Rosie Chadwick
by olivia-22
Summary: AU following the life of an o/c called Rosie Chadwick. Rosie's an asset to Ravenclaw, she's confident and headstrong but will that be enough to get her through Hogwarts? It's Rosie's third year and she's got a mysterious new D.A.D.A Professor who seems to be harbouring a dark secret. Rosie and her friends are keen to find out more. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Hey!- I just wanted to do a little summary to explain the story :3 This is an AU following the schooling of a o/c called Rosie Chadwick. It's set the same period as the books. However, although all the other characters basically stay the same, there's no Harry, and I've also added some more made-up characters too. So yeah- the life of just another student in Hogwarts, she's not the chosen one or anything ;) Rosie's got two parents and a younger brother. Her dad's a wizard but her mother's a muggle. Of course basically everything is J.K's. Hope you enjoy~!

* * *

~Introduction~

The rain had been lashing at her window for most of the night and while the wind wailed through the trees and branches it caused them to tap at her window like the claws of a dark and strange creature. Of course, Rosie hadn't taken any notice of it, head buried deep in a book, the covers over her head, she was quite content. It was 3am and despite the busy day ahead of her she could never sleep, not when it was her first day back at school tomorrow.  
She shut the book. If she'd been honest with herself she hadn't really been concentrating on it anyway, she'd been daydreaming about all the things that were waiting for her back at Hogwarts. She yawned and pulled the covers back over her head.

"Oh damn" she muttered, as usual she'd forgotten to draw the curtains and being a full moon tonight the pale light illuminated the room so that it almost looked like day. She turned over to face away from the window, noting the calendar next to her bed 'August' it still read. She picked it up, and before she flipped the page she scanned down the August weeks, reminiscing about her summer holiday. It had only been her thirteenth birthday three weeks prior. Rosie smiled to herself as she turned the page.

'September, 1st' it read. She looked down to see, written in big blue felt tip, the words:

 _'BACK TO SCHOOL!"_

* * *

Year 3 ~ Chapter 1: 

The rain hadn't stopped by the next morning. Unusually heavy for this time of year Rosie thought, then she smiled when she remembered that she'd be on the train to school for the next five hours anyway so it didn't matter how bad the weather was. She was going to be tucked away in the warmth and dry, probably making herself sick with the amount of sweets she be eating.

"Oh gosh Rosie, have you brought an umbrella?", her mother called from the front door of their house, wrapped in a dressing gown, taking care to keep herself dry. They'd been loading Rosie's trunks and bags into the boot of her dad's car.

"I've got it, don't worry!", her dad said, heaving another trunk into the car.

Rosie gave her mum a wave from the passenger seat. "Is Alex there?" she mouthed to her mum.

Her mum reached round from behind her, pulling Alex away from hiding in the hallway reading his book. "Yes, right, goodbye, whatever" he sulked.  
She waved at Rosie again just as her dad shut the boot and clambered into the car.

"You ready pumpkin?", he asked Rosie with a proud smile, he'd once been a student at Hogwarts himself, long ago now but he could remember all too well how his daughter would be feeling today.

"Hogwarts is like my second home now dad, you don't need to worry". The first two years Rosie had felt a little nervous with each 'back to school' trip but this time something was different. She'd been feeling more confident ever since her birthday, perhaps it was something about becoming officially a teenager that gave her this new enthusiasm. Her dad started to reverse the car from their front drive, Rosie watched as her mum frantically waved back at her from the house.

"It'll feel like no time at all once you're there you know, and before you know it you'll be back home" her dad comforted.

"I know, I'm excited to go back actually", she smiled at him, and with that the pair drove away from their little home in Wiltshire, to embark on the long drive up to Kings Cross.

The hustle and bustle of the busy platform was making Rosie even more eager about going back to Hogwarts. She'd spotted her friends in a group by the bench and had skipped over to give them all a massive hug, leaving her poor dad to lug along her baggage behind her.  
All of the girls took it in turns to ask each other how their summer had went, giggling and jumping around they were like excitable bunnies.

"Alright girls, you'll have plenty of time to talk on the train", Cho's mother persuaded.

The train horn sounded and after giving her dad a big hug and dragging her luggage on board, Rosie darted for the first carriage to settle and chat with her mates.

After three hours Rosie was starting to feel the effects of her lack of sleep, her eyes felt heavy and she wanted to rest but her friend Sophie hadn't stopped talking for the entire journey.

"But don't you think that's funny?", Rosie realised she hadn't been paying attention.

"Sorry?" She smiled, sitting up from her slouched position.

"Don't you think it's funny, about Jenny, about her thinking Vince fancied her? I mean she's Gryffindor and he's Slytherin- you get my point?", Sophie nodded.

"Oh yeah, yeah no I get you, that's really silly isn't it." Rosie said with a very sleepy voice. She turned to look out the window. The rain had stopped, still it was cloudy and grey but it didn't matter, the scenery was pretty whatever the weather she thought.

She closed her eyes and began to think about the soft bed that was waiting for her in her dorm.

"Oh did I tell you about what happened to me last Wednesday?", again, Sophie began yet another tale, but it was too late, it was falling on deaf ears, Rosie had completely fallen asleep.

By the time the train had pulled into Hogsmeade Rosie was in the middle of a very elaborate dream.

Cho shook Rosie awake "Wake up sleepy, we're here!".

Rosie shot awake, standing up in a hurry so that she suddenly felt dizzy. She gathered her items and rushed out the compartment. On her way out though, Pansy from Slytherin house, a rather churlish girl who loved to provoke, elbowed Rosie making her books tumble from her arms. However, since Rosie was in a bit of a dizzy mess at the time she assumed she'd been in the wrong and apologised sincerely to Pansy before dashing to pick up her books.

"Why are you apologising?" a voice said from above as she gathered another book.

Rosie looked up, and almost gasped when she saw Malfoy standing there. _Not you_ she thought to herself, he'd always been such a antagonising child. But contrary to Rosie's assumption Malfoy just picked up the last book and gave it to her, before turned and walking out the train without another word.


	2. Chapter 2

Year 3 ~ Chapter 2

The Great Hall was once again illuminated with the warm and comforting glow cast by the hundreds of floating candles on the ceiling. With the weather as bad as it was you could almost hear the large sigh of relief from the students entering the room.

Once all the pupils had been seated the new first years entered through the large hall doors, their inquisitive faces all agog with the sight of the enchanted twilight sky ceiling. One by one the sorting hat placed them in their new houses.

'Welcome, Welcome!', Dumbledore addressed the school, 'And may I say a particularly warm and dry welcome to our newest students. Now before we begin I'd like to address a few start of term announcements. Firstly, I am pleased to announce the return of Professor Hucklebury as teacher of Herbology while Professor Sprout is on temporary leave. I'd also like to welcome our newest teacher, Professor Mendacallius, he will be teaching Defence Against The Dark Arts this year. As usual our good caretaker Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that magic is forbidden in the corridors between classes and that the Forbidden Forest will remain prohibited as usual this year. After an unfortunate incident involving a forgetfulness potion and a sixth year student last term, I'd like to advice you all to refrain from using such potions within the school grounds until further notice...'.

'Pssst!', said a voice behind Rosie. She turned around to see Cassandra Nightshade, a Gryffindor girl Rosie knew from her History of Magic classes.

'Hello Cassie,' whispered Luna.

'Have you heard?' Cassandra started, '…about Jenny and Vince, they're dating now apparently'.

'What!' said Sophie, possibly louder than she should have. 'You can't be serious?' she then whispered.

Cassie shrugged before turning back to her table. Rosie looked at Sophie, who'd developed an astonished look on her face.

'I thought you said it would never happen between them?' Rosie smirked.

'I thought so too,' said Sophie, clearly confused.

The girls heard Professor McGonagall tap her glass with her spoon. 'Attention please.'

'Thank you Minerva' acknowledged Dumbledore. 'Let the feast, begin!'.  
The children all suddenly scrambled to get the food on their plates as quickly as possible, for it had been a long day and Dumbledores speech turned out not to be one of his shortest. With roast chicken and beef piled high on silver platters, hot and steamy pumpkin pasties, roast potatoes, sausages, gravy and an assortment of puddings and treats to die for, the students of Hogwarts never need complain about school dinners not being tasty.

Back in the girl's Ravenclaw dorm Rosie flopped onto her bed. Face down in the mass of pillows she mumbled something about how she'd outdo Sleeping Beauty in a sleeping contest right now.

Cho sat at the end of her bed, 'Tired? she giggle, draped in her dressing gown.

'Whatever gave you that idea?', Rosie sleepily chuckled into her pillow. But before any of the girls actually got around to dimming the fires and cleaning their teeth Cho updated them all on how her summer holiday to France had gone. She explained how she'd seen an international Quidditch tournament in the Alps and had visited a museum all about unicorns and sphinx's but before Cho had finished Rosie was once again fast asleep. Cho and Sophie had burst into laughter as they joked that their friend had been so bored with Cho's stories that she'd fell asleep.

* * *

That first lesson Tuesday morning was Divination, a class both Sophie and Rosie were going to share an equal contempt for. It wasn't exactly the kind of factual or practical class the two Ravenclaw girls were fond of, they'd most likely sit and giggle in the corner they thought as they made there way up the tower. However, when they reached the top Professor Trelawney, the usual Divination Professor was no where to be seen. In her place stood a tall, stocky young man with a long ponytail and a dark beard. Rosie remembered that Dumbledore had addressed him yesterday as Professor Mendacallius.

'Well in you go!', He frowned. With one wave of his wand the door was slammed shut and the students books all opened onto page 155, Heptomology.

'Quiet!', Professor Mendacallius shouted, to the children's surprise. 'Professor Trelawney is away on leave and I… I will be taking over this lesson for today.'

'Sir?' Roberta Grave, a Slytherin, began, 'I thought you were Defence Against the Dark Arts.'

"Quiet!', he again persisted. 'I don't know what your usual teacher is like but I require you to be a bit more respectful in my classroom.'

The students looked on silently. They were all pretty terrified of this new Professor, he didn't seem much fun, and Divination was already unenjoyable as it was.

Professor Mendacallius ordered the students to copy down all of page 155 into their notebooks. They all sat in silence for the fifteen minutes that this took. After they had finished Mendacallius remained silently walking up and down the classroom before the children got so bored that they began talking amongst themselves.

'Quiet! Can anyone tell me what a Probity Probe is?' Mendacallius scanned the classroom for volunteers. A Slytherin boy tried to conceal a laugh. Sophie frowned and slowly raised her hand.

'You girl, tell me!' he snapped.

'It… It detects spells of concealment and um…hidden magical objects sir, but, well, I mean, why are we learning about this is Divination?' Sophie blushed red and put down her hand. She turned to Rosie again to mouth 'help me' before giving her a faint smile.

Mendacallius was quiet for a few moments before he began to pace up and down the room. 'For 10 points, can anyone tell me what a Probity Probe and the number seven have to do in common?'

Everyone in the class looked completely blank. "I'll ask again shall I, what does a Probity Probe have to do with the number seven!' his voice getting louder.

A Ravenclaw boy in the front row raised his hand, 'I'm not certain, but I think I read that they've got a flaw which stops them from noticing an object with a spell or charm um… relating to the number seven'. The boy gulped as Mendacallius stood over him for what seemed like an eternity before muttering under his breath that the boy was correct.

'So, how does one solve this issue?' He looked pensively at the students, as if he was genuinely keen to discover the answer to this question.

The Ravenclaw boy looked up at the Professor again, 'Sir, you'd make your own Probe, that's how.'

Mendacallius leaned closer to the boy, rather menacingly hovering over him. 'And how, would one do that?', but before the boy could summon up the courage to try and answer the bells in the clock tower began to chime which marked the end of the lesson.  
As Rosie packed away their belongings she noticed Mendacallius continuing to pace the room, apparently deep in thought.

'I don't know about you…' Sophie said as the girls exited the classroom, 'but I'm glad that lessons over with'.


	3. Chapter 3

Year 3~ Chapter 3:

Weeks past since Rosie's strange Divination lesson with Professor Mendacallius. They'd since been taught by him in Defence Against the Dark Arts in which he would mostly spent the lesson pacing up and down the room while the students just copied from the textbooks provided. Rosie was convinced that there was something not quite right about the new staff member but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

On one cold October weekend the third years were allowed a school trip to Hogsmede. Since they'd never visited before, Rosie and her friends spent a rather exuberant amount of time in Honeydukes and Zonko's before making their way to the Three Broomsticks to try out some of the infamous Butterbeer. The Inn was so crowded when they arrived that there was barely room to move, practically the entire year group had descended on the small pub including the teachers and prefects. The girls made their way to the bar, squeezing in between a group of Gryffindor boys, who were engaged in a very animated conversation.

'We'll find some chairs.' Cho told Rosie as she was left waiting at the bar with Luna. An astonishingly old man was serving Butterbeers behind the wooden bar, he wore an apron which looked like it hadn't been washed in decades, and a beard that looked like it hadn't been brushed in decades.

'Four Butterbeers please,' asked Rosie politely as she held out eight sickles in her palm. Seemingly out of nowhere a group of Slytherin thugs pushed their way to the front of the bar and just as the old man serving drinks placed the four Butterbeers down on the bar-top, Goyle, a particularly malicious boy, deliberately pushed one of the drinks over, causing it to spill all over Rosie's clothes. She'd been given her pair of cream cord trousers by her mother as a birthday present back in August and now they were totally ruined with beer.  
'Opps,' Goyle joked and the group of Slytherins erupted into shrills of taunting laughter. Rosie just stared at Goyle menacingly; for she was no more intimidated by them as she was intimidated by Luna. Mockingly, Rosie picked up Goyle's Butterbeer and slowly poured it onto his shoes.

'Opps,' she taunted back, and at that moment not only did the Slytherins all burst into laughter but so did everyone around them. Rosie quickly made her way back to Cho and Sophie, Luna closely following behind, looking a bit stunned.

'That was incrediable,' laughed Sophie, taking a big gulp of Butterbeer.

'I'd be too scared to do that if it were me,' admitted Cho.

'They think they can get away with anything…' started Rosie, 'They can't just do whatever they please. Anyway, I'm not scared of them,' she took a large mouthful of the sweet Butterbeer, it tasted just like she'd hoped it would. She tried to mop up the worst of the beer that had been soaking into her clothes.

'What in the name of Merlin!'- they heard a voice cry from behind them. The girls shot round to seen Jenny and Vince, the Gryffindor and Slytherin couple Sophie had mentioned. Vince was stood starting at Jenny, who was seated and sniggering into her drink.

'You're completely mental you are…', Vince stormed out of the Three Broomsticks, leaving Jenny alone at the table by herself, not that she appeared phased, she was still sniggering.

'What just happened?', Sophie immediately quizzed Jenny.

'He found out!', the girl laughed.

'Found out what?' pestered Sophie again.

'About the love potion!' Jenny got up and left the Inn, still in fits of giggles. The table of Ravenclaw girls each looked at each other, completely perplexed.

'Did you not know she'd used a love potion?' asked a Gryffindor girl on the table their left that Rosie vaguely remembered from Charms.

'She used a LOVE POTION?', Sophie, again, speaking louder than she should have.

'Ha! Yes of course she did,' told the girl, 'It was a dare. We found this old love potion and Jenny wanted to see if it would work on the most unlikeliest of boys, so she gave some to Vince, only it was stronger than she'd imagined!', the girl couldn't contain her laughter anymore either and turned to join her friends.

'Well that solves that then,' joked Rosie. 'Poor Vince', she and Cho started to stifle their own giggles too now, but Sophie, rather bemused at her lack of knowledge on this particular case of gossip, just sat sipping beer.

* * *

I'm sorry this chapter is rather small! I'm planning some longer chapters soon :) Please review !


	4. Chapter 4

~Gosh I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while! I'm going away next week too so won't be able to update for a bit again really sorry :/ I promise I'll write a bunch of chapters soon- Anyhow- here's Chapter 4! Please review!~

Year 3 ~ Chapter 4:

Rosie's theatrics at The Three Broomsticks had gained her quite a bit of respect from her fellow students, especially the Ravenclaws. For the next few days classmates she'd rarely spoken to congratulated her on what they thought was a rather victorious moment - a Ravenclaw standing up to a Slytherin bully, it was a very rare occurrence.  
Rosie could never understand why some Slytherins seemed to consider themselves superior to other students; growing up in a rough Muggle primary school meant she had become accustomed to standing up to bullies all the time, and those Slytherins were no different. Since coming to Hogwarts the only difference between Muggle bullies and the Slytherins was that the Muggle ones could usually be defeated by ignoring them. Slytherins, on the other hand, tended to be annoyingly more persistent.

As the weeks grew colder and the days grew shorter Rosie and her friends had almost completely forgotten about the Butterbeer prank, it wasn't until they found themselves being held up in the corridor by Crabb and Goyle that they once again recalled the look on Goyles face as his nicely polished shoes became a buttery swimming pool.

'Going somewhere?', Crabb stepped forward, trying his best to look menacing.

'Yeah, I'm suddenly really thirsty actually, where's that place that sells Butterbeer again?' Rosie tried to hide a growing smirk. She turned to Cho, who was taking great pains to avoid confrontation, 'Come on, just ignore them,' Rosie took Cho's arm and attempted to barge through the boys.

'Password,' demanded Goyle.

'Oh yeah, sorry I forgot we needed passwords to get through two obnoxious kids now, that makes sense.' Rosie was beginning to really wind the two Slytherins up.

'Password, or you'll regret it.'

'Ooo - what you going to do Goyle, run and tell Draco about me?' but with that Goyle drew his wand and pointed it at Rosie, he was clearly angry.

'Stupef—' Goyle was stopped by a sudden presence behind Rosie.

'Congratulations Goyle... you've just found yourself in a weeks worth of detention!' the familiar voice of Professor Snape echoed in their ears. The students stared at him in silence. Snape had a habit of popping up completely out of the blue, the students had been trying to work out how he did it for years now.

'Haven't you all got somewhere to be!' and suddenly the four of them darted off in opposite directions.

'Goyle could have hurt you Rosie,' said Cho.

'I guess so… but whatever they do it'll never make me succumb to those bullies, so it's a loosing battle on their behalf,' she smiled at Cho. Miss Chang had never been very good at standing up for herself, a little shy and nervous about confrontation, but she felt that being friends with Rosie would definitely build her confidence.

* * *

The evening of October the 31st came and a magnificent banquet had been prepared for the students in the Great Hall. Hallowe'en themed sweets, treats and puddings were in abundance, Sophie could hardly contain her excitement as she sat down with Rosie, Luna and Cho.

'It's like they've raided Honeydukes!' Sophie smiled, stuffing marshmallows into her mouth.

Luna picked up a handful of Jellybeans, 'I hope these aren't Bertie Botts beans, I once tasted a vomit flavoured one, it wasn't very nice' she smiled.

Rosie loaded carrot cake, candy apples and pumpkin sweets onto her plate. Bats swirled overhead and the candles flickered, pumpkins carved into the shape of skeletons and ghosts were adorned all around the hall.

Rosie took a large gulp of pumpkin juice, 'These feasts never get old,' she said, face now full of carrot cake.

'Oh no, look who it is…' Sophie nudged Rosie to turn around, coincidentally sitting behind them were the usual Slytherin squabble. Goyle noticed the girls and snarled at them.

'You ought to do one Chadwick,' he gestured at them and poked Crabb to do the same. The two boys began to tease the girls, snorting with laughter, Draco and Pansy soon joined in. Undeterred, Rosie picked up her glass of pumpkin juice and pretended to throw it at Goyle, who lurched back in anticipation. Cho and Sophie gasped before erupting into fits of giggles, as did Crabb, much to Goyle's annoyance. Even Draco Malfoy, of all Slytherin students, could laugh at Goyle's expense. Rosie smirked at the Slytherins and turned back to her meal.

'You scare me Rosie,' Sophie started, '…you're usually so well bahaved, but put a drink in your hand and you turn savage!' The girls all laughed.

The evenings entertainment consisted of the house ghosts gliding around the Great Hall in formation. They dived and danced around each other while the students whooped and cheered. Once the Hallowe'en feast was over the Ravenclaw girls began making their way to their common room.

'I still can't believe you keep winding up Goyle about the Butterbeer incident, it's so funny,' Sophie giggled, arm in arm with Rosie as they neared Ravenclaw Tower.

'I'll only stop doing it when he stops getting angry about it,' Rosie smiled. Just before the girls reached the corridor leading to the stairs Rosie heard two voices arguing to her left. She paused where she stood, surprising Sophie.

'What!' Sophie said, a bit annoyed at her friend for freezing in her tracks, but soon Sophie heard the arguing too.

'It's coming from down here,' Rosie whispered, leading Sophie down a small corridor. When the girls saw two figures in front of them they quickly hid from view, crouching behind a large statue. They had noticed the familiar stature of Professor Mendacallius, who was angrily berating the caretaker Mr Filch.

'You don't understand, I need it-' Mendacallius spoke as he pinned Filch up against the wall. 'If you don't find me one that works, you'll be sorry you ever met me!' Mendacallius pushed Filch away and stormed down the corridor, disappearing around the corner.

Rosie and Sophie quickly scurried back to the stairs to avoid being seen by Filch. They hurried all the way up to the Ravenclaw common room before jumping onto one of the sofas.

'Where did you two disappear to, I thought you were right behind me and Luna?' Cho smiled as she sat next to them.

'Yeah we were but... well... Professor Mendacallius was having a really heated argument with Filch. He was saying he needed something and that Filch needed to find it for him or something, we didn't catch much of conversation.' Rosie shrugged as she turned to Sophie.

'It was a pretty one sided argument,' Sophie started, 'Filch looked pretty scared to me,' she laughed. As the three girls joked about what Mendacallius was so angry about something didn't feel right to Rosie, their teacher has been strange from the day they met him and she was itching to find out why.


	5. Chapter 5

Year 3 ~ Chapter 5

History of Magic was usually considered the most boring lesson by far in Hogwarts, but being the devout Ravenclaw Rosie was she found it was the subject she often studied hardest for. Back in her Muggle school she'd loved History classes the best, but learning about the history of the magical world was something all together more fascinating she thought. She'd been sat in her class for a good half an hour, desperately trying to concentrate on the leature Professor Binns was giving while her fellow classmates were doing anything but. They'd been passing notes, casting spells, some of them were even having a nap through his class. Rosie eventually gave up her studying when Seamus, from Gryffindor, accidentally hit Rosie in the head with a paper bird.

'I give up,' Rosie turned to Luna, who was still patiently trying to listen to Binns, '…you alright?' she asked. Luna smiled sweetly at her but didn't reply, which Rosie knew was a very Luna way of saying _'No actually, I wish those boys would quieten down'_.

'Oh, actually! I've just remembered what I meant to tell you,' Luna suddenly perked up, 'I saw Helena again.'

'Helena?'

'Ravenclaw,' Luna whispered, 'The Grey Lady.'

'Ohh yes, I've heard of her, you've spoken to her?' Rosie said, intrigued.

'Quite frequently actually. She's lovely. I told her about your teacher, Professor Mendacallius.'

'Really? What did she say about him?'

'It was quite interesting really, I told her that he'd been acting weird, and that you thought he might be searching for something.' Luna and Rosie weren't aware but Dean and Seamus had began listening in on their conversation.

'She told me she knew the place in the school where all the things people search for are kept.'

'Really? Where's that?', Rosie asked eagerly. She was keen to get to the bottom of her teachers strange behaviour.

'She wouldn't give me a name, but she told me a riddle. I've not yet figured it out.'

'Go on.'

'She told me if I knew I need only ask, and that if I have to ask I will never know. It's quite the puzzle to me.' Luna smiled.

'That's the weirdest riddle I've ever heard.' Seamus chipped in and Dean laughed.

'Oi!' Rosie turned to face the boys, 'Mind your own business!' she said playfully.

'Mind you, they're not wrong, I have no idea what it could mean.' Rosie told Luna, disappointed she couldn't be of more help, after all, it was good of Luna to ask Helena about Mendacallius.

After their History of Magic lessons ended Luna skipped off down the corridor to her Herbology class while Rosie met with Sophie and headed to Defence Against the Dark Arts. This would be interesting, she thought, after watching him pin Filch up against a wall the other night Mendacallius had become just as scary as Snape. On the way to their lesson Rosie explained to Sophie what Luna had told her, and Sophie had pondered over the riddle too. Unable to solve it the girls decided it was best not to mention what Helena had said during their next class.

'Sit.' Mendacallius instructed as the children slowly made their way to their tables. Last D.A.D.A lesson they'd been promised a practical lesson dealing with Salamanders, a fire dwelling lizard but as they made their way to their desks Mendacallius told them that the practical was off that that they were to study from their books today instead.

'Brilliant,' Rosie said to Sophie, 'just as I thought this might finally be a good lesson'. Although most of Rosie's friends were all fellow Ravenclaws, the few friends she had outside her own house would always find it odd when Rosie complained about boring lessons, they all assumed Ravenclaws loved studying no matter how dull.

During the lesson Mendacallius paced up and down the class as usual, eyes fixed on the floor he was deep in thought. Nothing new there Rosie remarked. In fact he was contemplating so hard that he barely noted the fact that Seamus and Dean's conversation had gotten noticeably loud.

'No way! It totally does not mean that!' Dean argued with Seamus.

'Well I can't think of anything else can you!' Seamus disagreed.

'Shhh! Mendacallius is coming over!' Sophie fussed. Their professor loomed over the two boys sat in front of Rosie and Sophie, he stroked his beard and bent down to meet them at eye level.

'Would you like to share your little conversation with the rest of the class!' he interrogated.

Seamus, without really thinking, simply told Mendacallius exactly what he'd spoken to Dean about. 'We're confused, we can't work this riddle out!'

'Riddle?' Mendacallius snapped back.

'If you know you need need only ask, and that if I have to ask you won't know.' Dean told the Professor.

Rosie gritted her teeth. 'Merlin! Why are they telling him!' she whispered to Sophie.

'Do…do we want him to know? I don't know what to think anymore.' Sophie admitted.

'No, we don't want him to know. Mendacallius is weird, whatever he's looking for I don't suppose it's a barrel of pumpkin juice do you?' Rosie said, a bit more sarcastically that she intended it to sound.

Mendacallius had stood over the couple of Gryffindors for some time before he suddenly walked swiftly back to his desk. A shadow of a smile crept onto his face. Rosie had never seen him smile before, it was odd and it did nothing to settle her ever increasing suspicion towards him.

'Class over.' he address the students abruptly. There was a gasp among the children, there was still half an hour of lesson left. The pupils stayed seated while staring back at their Professor.

Mendacallius looked up form his desk, 'I said it's over! You can go, study in the library or something.' Without questioning the students got up as fast as they could and left the room. Only Rosie _did_ question, in fact she had lots of questions about Mendacallius and not the answer to a single one.


	6. Chapter 6

Year 3 ~ Chapter 6:

As the sun rose across one frosty November sky, Rosie and her classmates made their way to their Care of Magic Creatures class. The frost on the grass and trees looked like it was glowing as the low light from the rising sun caused everything to be illuminated in a beautiful warm orange. Shivering, the students who were wrapped tightly in scarfs and mittens huddled closely to one another as they were led by Professor Kettleburn to the large paddock where a lone Unicorn stood patiently. The stunning creature had the purest white fur any of the pupils had ever seen. No-one said a word as their Professor ordered them to gather around the beast. As the sun slowly crept higher up the winter sky the Unicorn was suddenly lit with a halo of warm light. The sheer magnificence of this creature took Rosie's breath away, Cho whispered something to her but Rosie didn't hear a thing, she was too awestruck by the Unicorn. Care of Magic Creatures was one of the Ravenclaw girls favourite classes, although she wouldn't have liked to admit it, she would have even gone as far as to consider it her favourite. Kettleburn was a lovely enthusiastic teacher who made it easy to enjoy the subject and getting to study and pet magical creatures like Unicorns and Hippogriffs was better than any other lesson by far she thought.

'It's alright, she's quite safe. Girls to the front please, I want all the boys at the back' Kettleburn stated. The girls all pushed and shoved to be first in line to get a closer look at the creature.

The Unicorn started to pad the ground with it's hooves, it shuffled backwards as it grew more nervous around the excitable children.

'Be careful girls, she might be beautiful but that horn on her head isn't just for decoration, she'll give you a nasty shove if you don't take care' their Professor warned.

'Now then, a few facts about these creatures before we start. Books out please.' Professor Kettleburn adjusted the glasses on his face and cleared his throat. 'The Unicorn is a very sensitive being, preferring females to male humans, unless you have proven to the animal to be completely trustworthy. They're very rare creatures, it's very hard to spot one in the wild as they're very wary of most humans so it's unlikely you'll come across one. If you do they're prone to run away very easily and very fast. They can even outrun a werewolf! Unicorns are to be approached with great respect, it's not likely you'll ever see one in the wild but you'll need to know how to greet one if you do'.

'Where did this one come from Professor?' asked a Hufflepuff girl in the front row.

'Is she wild?' asked Pansy from Slytherin.

'Nix? No she's not wild!' chuckled their Professor, 'No I've raised Nix since she was a tiny golden foul. She was found in the woods alone after her mother abandoned her. They do that sometimes, the mothers, if the fouls are too trusting of humans the mother will leave the baby to remain safe herself.'

Rosie hadn't yet taken her gaze from the snow-white creature for the entirety of the lesson so far. She's been listening intently to every word Kettleburn had said.

'It's too cold to be doing this. What to you think?' Sophie had snapped Rosie out of her trance as she elbowed her in the arm. 'I'd rather be inside with some warming Butterbeer than to stand here freezing, learning about a horse' she huffed. Rosie knew Sophie wouldn't like this lesson, the Ravenclaw girl was too proud to like such an unacademic class. On the other hand, Rosie had a similar distain for Divination so she could hardly blame Sophie. However, Rosie was enjoying this lesson and she wasn't going to let her classmate distract her from it.

'If you can divide yourself into two groups that would be good please' Kettleburn asked. Rosie pushed her way to the front of one of the groups, she was desperate to pet the Unicorn. Parvati, Jenny and Cassie, three Gryffindor girls were at the front of the queue with Rosie. The four girls were giddy with the prospect of petting this creature. They'd never see anything as beautiful and pure in their lives. As they each went up and gentle stroked the beast they exchanged comments and giggles about how soft and white it felt. Kettleburn even let the children feed the Unicorn some sugar lumps as it had been behaving so calmly.

'You know what I think, you've been one of the best behaved classes around Nix, she's not usually this tame!' the Professor noted.

Later that day, while eating lunch in the Great Hall Rosie recalled to Luna about how her Care of Magical Creatures lesson had been the best one yet. Luna, who oddly enough reminded Rosie a bit of a Unicorn herself, was enchanted by the thought of the magical beast. For Luna had to wait until fifth period to meet the Unicorn with her own eyes. While the girls chatted in the hall Cho finally arrived at their table, looking a bit annoyed.

'Where have you been? Thought you'd never turn up!' Rosie laughed.

'Mendacallius held us back in our D.A.D.A class.' Cho replied, slouching onto the bench.

'Why did he do that?' Luna asked, a blueberry muffin in each hand.

'Fillius asked whether Mendacallius had made himself a Probity Probe yet, and he just went mad. Started saying we should show him more respect, learn not to question and he made us write 300 lines saying _"I shall not question my Professor",_ It was really weird.' Cho ate one of the muffins Luna handed her. 'I really don't like him,' she sighed.

'He's got to be hiding something' Sophie piped up as she stuck her head out from her book.

'He has to be,' Rosie replied, she turned to Cho, '…fancy finding out what?' she smiled.

* * *

That evening, as the wind howled around the towers of the school, Cho, Sophie and Rosie were stuck deep inside the library. The candles flickered as a draft from outside caused the lights to eerily bounce around the room. They'd been searching for anything at all that might give them a clue as to what Mendacallius was being so mysterious and quite frankly scary about but they'd been reading for hours without any idea what to look for.

'What was that riddle again?' Cho asked for the third time.

Rosie sighed, 'If I knew I need only ask, and that if I have to ask I will never know.' Cho frowned as she flicked through the pages of Hogwarts: A History.

'What does that even mean? He's looking for somewhere that hidden things are kept, yeah, and that you can only find if you already know where it is?' Sophie yawned as she put down a large dusty book.

'I think so, only what's he looking for anyway?' pondered Rosie, 'Why does he need this place? And why does he need one of those Probe things, what hidden magical object does he need, or want?'

Sophie's older sister Flory coincidentally passed them in the library as she was putting her books away. Flory was three years older than Sophie, she had long mousey brown hair which she had tied up in a bun on her head. She had an array of freckles and rather pointed features. Rosie had never really spoken to Flory, she was a bit too aloof and self important to be interested in talking to a third year girl like Rosie.

'Flory!' Sophie called, and her sister stood staring at the girls before with one wave of her wand the rest of her books floated back along the shelves to their places.

'Yes, what do you want?' Flory asked, frowning at the display of books strewn across the table in front of the girls.

'Can you help us with something? Do you know if there's somewhere in Hogwarts where lots of magical objects are kept hidden? And that you can't locate this place unless you know where it is in the first place?'

'Yeah.' Flory said quite nonchalantly. The girls started at her. 'The come-and-go room. Obviously.' Flory said, shocked that her sister and friends were ignorant to common Hogwarts knowledge. 'Oh Merlin, the Room of Requirement, the Room of Hidden Things, whatever you want to call it, that's what you're looking for. It's impossible to find though, only when you really need or want it does it appear, so good luck with that' Flory swiftly left the girls.

'So that's what Mendacallius is after? He wants to find the Room of Requirement?' Cho questioned.

'Yeah… but what for?' said Sophie, collecting the books.

'That,' Rosie started, 'is a very good question.'


	7. Chapter 7

Year 3 ~ Chapter 7

The girls had spent weeks spying on their Defence Against The Dark Arts professor. They secretively had followed him around the corridors and around the school grounds but hadn't gotten any further about why he was trying to find the Room of Requirement anyway. Rosie and Cho had spent most of their break times in the library, sifting though Hogwarts: A History and any other such books to find the location. All they had discovered was that to enter the room one had to walk past it three times thinking of nothing but what you want from the room, whether that be a swimming pool, indoor Quidditch pitch, lavatory or indeed the Room of Hidden Things.

Winter at Hogwarts had well and truly taken hold and for as far as the eye could see everywhere had been enshrouded in a blanket of snow. As large snowflakes rained down on the Quidditch pitch one afternoon, the Ravenclaws were gathered in the stands whooping and cheering for their house team. Ravenclaw were playing Hufflepuff, the Hufflepuff's had lost their last match and needed to win this to still be in with a shot of winning the cup. However, with Cho as the Ravenclaw seeker, the Hufflepuffs didn't really stand a chance. Cho had been the seeker for Ravenclaw for almost two years now, she would have qualified to be on the team back in her first year if they'd have let her. Cho was exceptionally gifted at Quidditch, though she rarely boasted about it which meant she never really got the recognition she deserved.

Rosie and Sophie stood cheering for Cho in the freezing weather, they chanted her name as she came swooping past them. A Bludger tried to knock Cho off her broom but she managed to regain balance, she spotted the Golden Snitch and sped off again.

'10 points to Hufflepuff!' Lee Jordan enthusiastically announced from the commentary box. One of the Hufflepuff chasers had got another quaffle through the hoop. The Ravenclaw keeper, a boy in an upper year called Hugo, was doing rather rubbishly. Sophie joked that he must have been issued with a sleeping draft because he was being so useless. The score was now at 40-30, Ravenclaw needed to grab that snitch if they wanted to win. Cho and the Hufflepuff seeker Theodore were racing neck and neck around the Quidditch pitch. They'd dramatically swerved to avoid several Bludgers and two Chasers were nearly knocked off their broom as they hadn't been looking were they were flying and had accidentally got in the way off the two competing seekers. With the score now levelling at 40-40 both the Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaws were cheering and clapping at their teams from the snow covered stalls. Rosie and Sophie whooped and applauded a little louder than everyone else for the fate of the match was resting on their best friends shoulders and they didn't care if it was embarrassing, they were going to let Cho know how much they were encouraging her to win. As a Hufflepuff chaser neared the Ravenclaw hoops it looks like the Hufflepuffs were going to get yet another quaffle through, but as Theodore desperately tried to reach out for the snitch his hand slipped on the broom, it was icy cold and he'd forgotten his gloves, unlike Cho. The Ravenclaw seeker took advantage of Theodore's mishap and lurched forwards to grab the Snitch, it almost escaped her but she took both hands off her broom to snatch it. She wobbled for a moment before holding it above her head triumphantly.

'150 POINTS TO RAVENCLAW!' Lee cheered. The Ravenclaws erupted into celebration. Rosie and Sophie jumped up and down ecstatically. 'Ravenclaw win the match!' Lee concluded. Sophie and Rosie ran down the stairs, almost falling onto the slushy snow as they did. The Quidditch players began to file out of the pitch and Rosie jumped on Cho as she appeared, red faced and wet with snow.

'You did brilliantly!' she congratulated her, giving her a big hug.

'Almost thought you wouldn't do it but we knew you had it in you!' Sophie giggled.

Cho blushed, 'It was just luck really' she smiled.

'Well done Cho!' three Ravenclaw boys cheered as they walked past the girls.

'Yeah well done,' another patted her on the back.

'It was only the semi-finals,' Cho flicked the wet hair from her eyes. 'Not sure I'll be able to do that in the final.'

'Of course you will, you take to that broom like - Oh! - what's that phrase…?' Rosie took Cho's arm. 'A duck to water! That's it' The girls all laughed.

'A duck to water? What kind of a saying is that!' Sophie giggled.

'Did you just call me a duck?' Cho grinned.

'It's a muggle thing' Rosie recalled, and the three girls made their way back to the school, laughing and chanting Cho's name as they went.


	8. Chapter 8

~ Sorry the last chapter was a bit short, I can never seem to write chapters over 1500 words at best. Sorry! Please tell me if that's an OK chapter length or if you'd prefer each chapter to be longer. Anyway, never really done the whole fanfiction thing before but I hope you're enjoying this! Please review. ~

* * *

Year 3 ~ Chapter 8

That Wednesday after their Transfiguration lesson where they learned the Lapifors Spell, Rosie and Sophie made their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts again. On the way to their class they'd joked with Dean Thomas about the spell that they'd just learnt, which turns one's subject into a rabbit, and they laughed about who they'd turn into a rabbit if given the chance. They all agreed that Seamus would make a very good rabbit but Seamus disagreed. When they reached the classroom Mendacallius was no where to be seen. The students slowly sat down in their seats and got their books out, looking around them for their mysterious Professor. They'd been sat waiting for ten minutes, getting bored, when Mr Filch came hopping into the classroom. The children looked around to one another, confused. Filch dashed around the table at the front of the room where he picked up the chalk and in large, almost illegible letters, he wrote _'Lesson Cancelled'_ on the black board. The students all gasped and sighed. It had been the second time the D.A.D.A lesson had been interrupted in the same month. The students were beginning to get annoyed by the lack of teaching happening in this particular lesson. The students began to pack their bags away, complaining to each other about how they'd now be expected to sit in the library for an hour studying when they were all desperate for a practical D.A.D.A lesson for once in a while.

'They should sack Mendacallius' Malfoy criticised as they left the classroom.

'Yeah they should, he's been useless' agreed Rosie and a Slytherin girl next to her nodded in accordance.

Sophie and Rosie spent half an hour in the library copying some text about Hinkypunks from their book _Defence Against Dark Creatures._ They hadn't been concentrating at all because they'd heard some gossip about Susan Bones from Hufflepuff and had been chatting away about it for the entire time. When the girls realised they weren't getting anywhere copying from their textbooks they left the library and headed back along the corridor where they passed their D.A.D.A classroom 3C. The girls peered into the classroom, just to check if anyone was in still in there. Mendacallius was stood in the centre of the room alone. They stopped in their tracks and hid behind the door. Rosie mimed to Sophie that they should follow him again like they had before, to see where he'd been. Sophie nodded and they continued to spy on him in his room. Mendacallius hadn't realised the two girls were hidden behind the open door, his back was to the girls so they found it difficult to see what he was doing as he pulled out a long golden probe from his coat pocket. He darted around to face the door, as if he had heard the girls. They stood frozen where they hid, unable to tell if they'd been noticed or not. The Professor took a deep breath and walked briskly out of the classroom. As he left the room the girls stood in the corridor watching him stride away, his dark coat billowing behind him. From the back he almost looked like Professor Snape. As Mendacallius was fiddling with his coat pocket a small book fell to the floor. He turned around to see what the noise had been but he suddenly noticed the two girls stood right next to the open classroom, trying desperately to appear as if they hadn't been stood there the whole time. He walked towards the girls with a menacing expression on his face.

Rosie panicked and suddenly blurted out 'Sir, we didn't see you in Defence Against The Dark Arts today, was there any homework you wanted us to do?' she blushed red. Sophie shot her a concerned look, as if to say _what on earth are you doing?_ Mendacallius paused for a brief moment before shoving the golden probe back in his pocket. He loomed over the two Ravenclaw girls.

'…No. There wasn't,' he told them abruptly and turned on his heal again. As he marched away from them, Rosie sighed in relief.

'Oh Professor! You dropped yo - ' Rosie kicked Sophie in the shin.

Mendacallius whipped round again, an angry expression on his face after being twice delayed by these girls.

'Nothing. We're sorry Professor.' Rosie interrupted. Mendacallius sneered at the girls before darting off again down the corridor.

'Gosh I'm sorry, I didn't think!' Sophie apologised as Rosie quickly picked up the book that had dropped from Mendacallius' coat. It was a small grey book, the binding was broken and it was falling apart. Written on the cover in elaborate silver letters was the name _Thanatos Altair._

'I know this sounds a bit, James Bond…' Rosie started.

'James what?' Sophie questioned.

'Don't… Don't worry, Muggle thing. I mean I know this sounds a bit like, spying, but this book, do you think we should find out who this Thanatos Altair is? Only it could be something to do with the whole Room of Requirement situation?'

'No of course, good idea, we can look back in the Library' Sophie conquered. The girls hurried back towards the corridor leading to the Library.

'Did you see what Mendacallius was holding just now?' Rosie asked.

'The gold thing?'

'Yes… I don't suppose it was one of those… you know, the thing he needed from Filch?'

'A Probity Probe, yes I believe it was' Sophie worried. Both the girls had an uneasy feeling about whatever was going on.


	9. Chapter 9

Year 3 ~ Chapter 9

In the deepest, most secluded part of the library, so that no one could see them, sat Rosie and Sophie poring over the small grey book Mendacallius had dropped in the corridor. Sophie had also dug out some other books she found in the library that referred to Thanatos Altair, there were only a couple but she thought they should search through them too. As they flicked through the first pages they didn't think much of the importance of their finding. It just seemed to be a brief record of the wizards life, his upbringing, his family history, his education, nothing had stood out as alarming or interesting the girls thought. He'd come from a small pure-blood family in Greece before moving to Britain in the early 20th century, after his father was killed in a freak accident. It wasn't until they turned to the page titled _'The First Murder'_ that they realised they were reading about a dark wizard. The book went on to mention a second murder, a third, a fourth, a fifth, until it finally finished with _'The Final Murder, and Altair's Imprisonment'._ The girls studied the text closer, it was written that Thanatos Altair had stolen a dagger, the Dagger of Mortahepta, as it went on to be known, from an ancient collection. He'd then used this to murder six members of a Muggle-born family that he had preyed on over a number of years. He was a twisted and evil man set on destroying the lives of Muggle-born witches and wizards. Before Altair was caught by the Ministry of Magic he had planned to kill another wizard, he'd attempted to infiltrate his previous wizarding school and murder the Muggle-born professor he had resented from his youth. In preparation he had enchanted this dagger with a dark curse that granted it's user immortality if they were to murder a seventh person with it. It was dark, illegal magic that had never been used before. However, he was finally captured by the Ministry and given a life sentence in Azkaban prison before he could complete his last murderous deed.

'However, to this day the Dagger of Mortahepta remains a very dangerous weapon, it will still grant the user immortality if used to murder for a seventh time. The location of the dagger remains a mystery, but rumours suggest the Ministry of Magic hid it somewhere in Scotland in a location which was practically impossible to unearth.' Rosie finished reading and sat slumped in her seat, mentally exhausted. She turned to Sophie, who with her head resting on her hand looked both shocked and upset by what she'd just read.

'This is like nothing I imagined at all.' Sophie said. 'This is awful. I assume Mendacallius is after this dagger? Because he seems pretty desperate to find a hidden magical object that he thinks is being kept in an extremely secret location, here in Scotland.'

'I think so…' Rosie quivered. 'That's probably why he needed that Probity Probe?' she questioned.

'Oh of course!' Sophie looked at Rosie, 'Do you remember, when Mendacallius in Divination asked us about Probity Probes? I think it was Fillius who said they don't work on objects relating to the number seven, such as objects with a spell or curse on them which uses the number seven!'

Rosie sat looking silently at Sophie, it had been a long day and her brain was pretty scrambled by now. 'Uh- I think so' she replied.

'Yes! It makes sense now, don't you see? Mendacallius couldn't find the Dagger because it uses a curse on it bound to the number seven, he was going to use the Probe to find the Dagger. He must have got Filch to find him one without a fault in it and now he's got one he'll be able to find the Dagger!' Sophie was on the edge of her seat, nervous but somewhat satisfied with the fact that they'd discovered Mendacallius' secret. The two girls left the library as it began to close, Madam Pince had stumbled across the girls tucked away in a small corner of the library and had told the girls it was time to leave. They hastily made their way back up the Ravenclaw tower, Rosie struggling with the amount of stairs after a really rather exhausting day. When they reached the Ravenclaw common room they found Cho and Luna chatting together on one of the sofas.

'You'd disappeared of hours!' Cho said as they took a seat next to their friends. 'We were starting to wonder where you were but Luna cleverly suggested that you might have been in the library, searching about the Room of Requirement?'

'Actually, we were searching up about Thanatos Altair, heard of him?' Sophie asked Luna and Cho.

'I have.' said Luna. 'Not a very nice wizard at all.'

'No, I haven't, who is he?' Cho told them. Rosie dug around in her bag for the book about Altair, when she found it she checked around her to see if any of the other students were watching them before she quickly handed it to Cho.

'Read this, it explains everything. Mendacallius is probably a fan of this Altair wizard, or at least, he wants to finish off his work' Rosie spoke quietly to Cho.

'But I warn you', Rosie finished, 'Don't read it before going to sleep, it's not a great bedtime story'.


	10. Chapter 10

Year 3 ~ Chapter 10

For the whole of the following day Rosie could not stop trying to rationalise the wild and scary thoughts about Mendacallius that were swimming around her brain. She tried to convince herself that her Professor was simply trying to protect the Dagger from being used by anyone, that he was probably a spy from the Ministry sent to the school to test how easy it was to uncover the Dagger but she knew deep down that it wasn't the case. Her instincts from day one had been that Mendacallius was not a nice wizard, up to something malicious. She just didn't expect it to be involving murder, immortality and dark magic. All she wanted to do was to curl up in a ball and disappear. She was starting to feel home sick again but she knew why, it was almost the Christmas holidays and she always felt homesick the worst just before going home again. It didn't feel right to her though, leaving the school without telling anyone apart her friends about the possibility that her Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was a follower of the dark wizard Thanatos Altair.

Rosie spent the entirety of her Charms lesson in a world of her own. She hadn't been concentrating on anything, head full of worry and anxiety. She had seriously considered going up to Professor Flitwick at the end of the class and telling him about Mendacallius. He'd understand, she thought, Flitwick was one of the nicest teachers at Hogwarts and she was proud to have him as her Head of house. He'd always told the Ravenclaws that his office was open to them at any time for a chat or if they had a problem he'd resolve it with them. She'd never really spoken to him outside Charms before but she was seriously considering it now, she wanted to warn him about Mendacallius. On the other hand, she thought, if she was wrong about this whole situation she'd get into serious trouble. She's been spying on a Professor, she'd taken his belongings and she'd not only get in trouble herself but her best friends would get in trouble too. She didn't want to risk it without firm evidence to back up her theory. After Charms she had Transfiguration where she spent an equal amount of time not actually concentrating on her class but having a debate with herself inside her head about what to do. The students had been gathered around a table in the middle of the classroom to watch Professor McGonagall turn a teapot into a tortoise. This would usually be a lesson Rosie would have been intently listening to, writing down everything McGonagall was teaching them, instead, she was staring into thin air, daydreaming about being back at home.

'Ouch!' Rosie was abruptly interrupted from her daydream by Draco Malfoy roughly elbowing her. He glared at her as she frowned at him. Suddenly she realised that indeed the entire class were also staring at her and that she'd missed the fact that McGonagall had asked her a question.

She blushed, 'Uh… sorry I didn't catch the question' she said hesitantly.

'I asked you, Miss Chadwick, if this spell were to not be performed perfectly what might one expect to happen to the teapot?' McGonagall patiently quizzed her.

'Um… maybe the tortoise would um… have a spout, or be steaming?' Rosie bit her bottom lip, everyone in the class was starting at her.

'Correct.' McGonagall smiled before continuing to ask the other members of the class to answer too.

Once Transfiguration had ended Rosie sluggishly headed to The Great Hall for lunch. Professor Flitwick was at the back of the hall decorating a very large Christmas tree with a multitude of coloured ball balls and candles that hovered around the branches. Flitwick and Filch had also started to adorn the room with gold and silver covered wreaths. As Rosie walked up to the Ravenclaw table she couldn't see her friends, it took her a few moments before she spotted Luna and Cho sat alone together eating.

'Hey… where's Sophie then?' Rosie asked as she sat beside them.

'I think she's gone to see Flory about something?' Cho replied before continuing to eat her food.

'Is there something wrong Rosie, you look a bit discontent? Would you like some pink jelly, it'll certainly cheer you up?' Luna said as she held out a spoonful of wobbling fuchsia pink gelatin.

'No… thank you Luna.'

'You do look a bit distant though, you sure you're okay Rosie' persisted Cho.

'No I'm fine, yeah' she replied prodding a sandwich that she didn't really feel like eating.

Sophie came bouncing into the Great Hall before proceeding to squeeze in-between Cho and Rosie.

'I've just been nagging my sister about that Room of Requirement. She says the most she knows about it is a rumour that it's on the seventh floor. She doesn't know if there's any truth about that though but we could give it a try.' Sophie said and she dumped her school books on the table, making the jelly spill from Luna's spoon as she tried to eat it.

'That sounds like a good plan,' Cho agreed and thereupon her and Sophie continued to theorise over the location of the magical room.

Out of no where Gregory Goyle appeared behind Rosie, he stood behind her holding a cup of pumpkin juice.

'Rosi-' Luna was about to warn her before Goyle suddenly poured the drink right over Rosie's head. Crabb, Goyle and the other Slytherin's exploded into cackles of amusement. Rosie just sat there, hair dripping with orange liquid, she wiped her eyes.

'Thought I'd forgotten had you? Told you I'd get you back for what you did, now see who looks like the idiot.' Goyle jibed.

Professor Flitwick was walking back along the Great Hall carrying a very large box of decorations, which rather swamped him, when he saw the commotion by the Ravenclaw table.

'Mr Goyle!' screeched Flitwick as he put down the heavy box. 'Outrageous behaviour, 30 points to be taken from Slytherin at once!' Goyle simply snarled and left the hall with the rest of the Slytherin squabble.

'I trust that you're alright Miss Chadwick?' Flitwick said attentively.

Rosie nodded and she tried to laugh it off, 'Yes um… I'll just go and wash my hair, not sure this look really suits me' her voice quivered.  
Cho ran after Rosie as she exited swiftly from the Great Hall, pumpkin juice dripping all over the floor. The truth was that on any other day Rosie would have given as good as she got and thrown her pumpkin juice over Goyle too. She hated just sitting back and taking the bullying so she felt she needed to stand up for herself, even if it meant getting in trouble. In spite of this, Rosie was simply not in the mood for an argument today, she'd felt a mixture of worry and home-sickness all day and this embarrassment was now just the final straw she thought.


	11. Chapter 11

Year 3 ~ Chapter 11

When Rosie came out of the girls bathroom she was surprised to see Cho standing outside waiting patiently for her to check if she was alright. Cho gave her a hug and told her that she didn't need to feel embarrassed because people were probably staring at Goyle rather than her. Rosie was a bit taken aback at Cho's kindness since she'd never been in this kind of situation before, she'd always been the strong one who had supported her friends not the other way around. As the girls headed down the corridor, back towards the Great Hall they spotted their suspicious Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher loitering next to a large tapestry on the wall. Rosie and Cho were about to turn and walk down a separate corridor before Rosie noticed Mendacallius take out his Probity Probe from his coat and step to face the wall opposite the tapestry.

'Wait… hold up.. what's he up to?' Rosie said as she grabbed Cho's arm and they hid at the end of the corridor as not be seen. Mendacallius looked around nervously, checking for anyone watching him. When he thought he was alone he closed his eyes as to concentrate harder and began to pace up and down. All of a sudden the wall next to him started to move and a metal door frame slowly became visible. It grew in detail and structure until finally it stopped and there stood a large rusting castle door as if it had been there the whole time. Mendacallius walked through it, looking satisfied, before closing it behind him. Rosie knew exactly what was behind that door, for she'd read with Sophie that the Room of Requirement could be accessed in this way. Rosie ran over to the door before it began to disappear and she stood by it for a moment thinking as hard as she could about the Room of Hidden Things. She turned to Cho, who was still hiding in the corner, looking both terrified and amazed.

'Trust me' Rosie said as Cho began to gingerly walk over to the entrance. 'I think I know what this is, we've got to follow Mendacallius.' Rosie cautiously and quietly opened the door, she didn't want to make Mendacallius aware of the girls presence. Once inside they found themselves completely blown away by the size and volume of the room. The size of a small cathedral it was crowded full of mountains of objects piled up high like pyramids. Some of the piles were so high the girls struggled to see the top. Just simply where the girls stood could a range of bizarre random objects be found: a miniature piano, double ended broomsticks, an entire suit of armour, dozens of round tables stacked upon each other and trunkfuls of what looked like chestnuts.

'This is amazing' Cho whispered as she fiddled with a giant mound of books to her left.

'Come on, we've got to see what Mendacallius is up to,' Rosie took Cho's hand and they silently walked through the jungle of items.

'What do you think he's trying to find?' Cho whispered as the girls passed a large bird cage with what looked like a skeleton of a giant bat inside.

'A dagger… the Dagger of Mortahepta I think it's called. It's got something to do with that wizard Thanatos Altair.'

'I hope you're joking' bothered Cho. 'I _did_ read that book last night and it almost gave me nightmares. That Dagger can't seriously be being kept in a school can it?'

'Yeah… and I think Mendacallius is trying to find it right now. Let's just hope we've got this all wrong and he's not finding it at all, let's just hope he's searching for something nice like… pumpkin pastels or —' Rosie held her breath and grabbed Cho. They'd spotted Mendacallius. He was slowly walking around with the golden probe in hand, waving it around the objects to check if any were enchanted.

'Let's just leave Rosie,' Cho pleased, 'We could get into so much trouble'. But Rosie wasn't listening, she was intently staring at Mendacallius as he stopped waving his probe and hovered over a small table. On it was a jewellery box, an old radio and what looked like a piece of spare blue silk cloth. He picked up the cloth, Rosie could see that something was wrapped inside it. She moved closer, peering through the strings of a harp as she watched the Defence Against Dark Arts professor. Mendacallius slowly unwrapped the item to reveal a tarnished silver dagger, it had a long wide blade and it was adorned with a single large amethyst on the handle.

Cho squeezed Rosie's arm, 'We've got to go'. Mendacallius abruptly looked round in the direction of the girls. Rosie began to back away slowly but the sleeve of her robe caught the edge of an overflowing jewellery box which rattled as she brushed past it. Mendacallius started to sharply head in the direction of the girls. In a panic they turned and fled in the opposite direction, heading for the door. As they ran Cho nearly slipped on a piece of fabric draped on the floor and she cursed herself as Rosie grasped her hand and they continued for the door. The girls could hear Mendacallius' footsteps getting louder; their hearts were racing as they dived out the exit and sprinted down the corridor.


	12. Chapter 12

Year 3 ~ Chapter 12

Running as fast as their legs would carry them Rosie and Cho darted down one corridor after another. Convinced Mendacallius was after them they dared not turn around for tear of being caught. The two Ravenclaw girls raced around a further stone corridor before they were forced to abruptly stop dead in their tracks.

'Well now…I have the mind to deduct 5 points from each of you right now. What… do tell… is your excuse for running in the corridors?' Professor Snape sharply asked the girls.

'Sorry Professor.' Rosie apologised.

'Sorry,' Cho said shyly, bowing her head.

'We shouldn't have been running,' Rosie said to please the uptight professor.

'Um… we'll get to our dormitory now Professor.' Cho said as she tugged on Rosie's sleeve.

'Actually Professor… there's something I wanted to say,' Cho shook her head at Rosie to get her to shut up. Rosie had finally got the evidence she needed to back up her theory about Mendacallius and she was itching to tell one of the adults, even if said adult was scary Professor Snape.

The Potions master stood looming above the short thirteen year old. 'Go on…' he ordered.

'I'm very sorry Professor, and I know I'll get in trouble for this but, it's about Professor Mendacallius. I'm worried he's found the Dagger of Mortahepta, in the Room of Hidden Things… it's a long story.' Rosie confessed. Snape's eyes widened and folded his arms, he looked even more antagonising.

'I had to tell someone Professor, I've been really worried'

'Have you now! How dare you accuse a teacher of such ridiculous things.'

'Professor — I saw him too, just now.' Cho spoke up.

Snape stood imposingly over the girls for a few moments before his expression turned from anger to concern.

'And how do you know what the Dagger of Mortahepta even looks like?' Snape interrogated.

'It's in a book, about Thanatos Altair. Said it was old and silver, probably. That's exactly what I saw him find, silver with a purple gem stone on the handle. Please believe me Professor I'm not someone who lies about stuff I'm really not.' Rosie pleaded.

Snape grabbed both girls by their robes and directed them swiftly along the corridor which headed down towards the stairs and in the direction of the second floor. They followed the stairs right the way down until they reached the Gargoyle corridor when Professor Snape then marched them towards the entrance to the Headmasters Office. Rosie and Cho had never been in this part of the castle before, let alone anywhere near the Gargoyle guarding Dumbledores office. They'd never needed to be in this part of the school. They were both perfectly well behaved sensible students who'd never been in trouble till now. Rosie began to regret her hasty decision to blurt out what she suspected about Mendacallius to Snape. She suddenly got doubts about what she'd seen and what she'd worried about. _What if I'm wrong about all of this_ she nervously thought. As Snape led the girls into Dumbledore's office Rosie temporarily forgot about all her anguish and took a few moments just to take in everything around her. They were stood in a rather stunning round room, the walls covered with paintings and there were antique bookcases and books strewn around the place. A fire roared away in one corner, illuminating the room in a warm glow. Above the fire on a shelf high up near the ceiling was the Sorting Hat, which appeared to be sleeping Rosie concluded. In the centre of the room, behind three stone archways, sat Dumbledore behind a very large, very old oak desk. Snape pushed the two Ravenclaws towards the Headmaster.

'Go on.' Snape insisted. Rosie assumed their Potions professor was asking them to re-tell their story to Dumbledore. She cleared her throat and began to tell the old, bearded wizard about everything, from scratch and in full. She told him about the Divination lesson in which Mendacallius had first expressed his desire to obtain a Probity Probe and how she'd seen him getting angry at Filch and she even explained how they heard the riddle from Helena Ravenclaw which allowed them to find the Room of Requirement.

'You see Professor, this just started out as a bit of curiosity, we were messing around really, we definitely didn't expect this to happen. I don't know what he wants it for but he's got that Dagger.' Rosie finished, her hands were shaking.

Dumbledore rose from his seat and muttered something to Snape, all that Rosie could make out were the words _'Warn the others'._ The Headmaster slowly walked around the desk again before taking a seat and peering up at the girls through his half-moon glasses.

'What you have accused a teacher of is very serious indeed,' he began. Rosie's heart sank, she knew he wouldn't believe her. 'You've put yourselves in danger if what you say is true and I cannot condone that. Taking a Professor's belongings is also against the rules you do understand.' The girls nodded. 'However, you have shown great bravery and wit in dealing with an issue you sought to resolve. This is very commendable. If this accusation is true then you will have uncovered a grave threat to the school that we were not aware of and therefore I must reward you with 50 house points.' The girls both turned to each other, smiling they secretively high-fived each other behind their backs. Rosie was so relieved, yes Mendacallius was still possibly a dangerous threat to the school but being taken seriously by Dumbledore made her day and she was rather pleased with herself.

'Each of you are to head back to the Ravenclaw common room immediately. Please don't delay as you make your way there, it's not safe,' Dumbledore spoke as he showed the girls the door. Rosie took one more glance inside the amazing room before leaving. She noted the paintings on the walls of the old headmasters were all asleep which made her smile and she took one last look at all the intricate magical objects on the tables in the cabinets. She sighed as she left the office, for Rosie did not intend to be visiting the Headmasters Office again any time soon.


	13. Chapter 13

Year 3 ~ Chapter 13

'It was definitely the Dagger? Of… Morta— whatever?' Sophie asked as Rosie and Cho recalled the events of earlier that day. The two girls had rushed straight back to their dorm when they'd left Dumbledores Office, they'd almost ran for fear of bumping into Mendacallius. When they got back the other Ravenclaw students must have known what was going on because they'd all stared at Cho and Rosie as they wandered through the common room. Now that the girls were gathered on the end of Cho's bed discussing what they'd seen in the Room of Requirement, Rosie felt a lot more calm and safe than before.

'It looked like it.' said Cho in reply.

'It was the Dagger,' Rosie chipped in, 'I'm sure of it'. She then told Sophie about the look on Snape's face when he realised it might have been possible that she were telling the truth. 'He looked worried'.

Hours past and the girls had only just finished their conversation when they finally began to drift off to sleep. Except Rosie lay wide awake, staring up at the ceiling, her mind once again swimming with thoughts that were stopping her from getting some rest. The sound of the wind swirling around the Ravenclaw Tower was hypnotic and Rosie tried very hard to concentrate on it to lull herself to sleep but it wasn't working. She couldn't stop wondering what had happened after Mendacallius had heard them in the Room of Hidden Things. What if she'd scuppered everything and he'd ran off with the Dagger without Snape or any of the other professors finding him. What if he'd already used the Dagger and Mendacallius had been granted immortality, ruling over everyone forever more? She was contemplating all the different _ifs_ and _buts_ when Luna, out of no where, came creeping into their dorm. Rosie hadn't even noticed that she'd gone from the room, she'd been concentrating too much on trying to fall asleep, which of course just exacerbated the issue. Dressed in green laced pyjamas, a coat and a pair of pink shoes Luna crawled back into bed.

'Sleep walking?' Rosie asked her as she sat up in bed.

'Oh, I'm sorry did I wake you. I'm very sorry Rosie' Luna apologised, putting the covers over herself, still wearing a coat and shoes.

'You didn't wake me Luna it's fine. I've not been to sleep at all actually.'

'When that happens to me I like go for a walk in the forrest. I visit the Thestrals at night sometimes, they're quite soothing creatures, very restful.' Luna smiled, 'Night night Rosie'.

Rosie hadn't a clue what Luna had just said but taking a walk sounded like quite a good idea anyway she thought. She quietly got up and wandered out the dorm and down to the common room. The large circular room was flooded with moonlight and since Rosie had never been anywhere out of bed at this time of night in Hogwarts she was fascinated with how pretty her common room looked. Since everything was painted blue it all appeared almost silver with the soft glow of the moon coming in through the arch windows. The fireplace was glowing with the last embers of a dying fire when Rosie decided to chuck another log on it, causing it to spit golden flames again. She sat in one of the sofas and stared at the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw which guarded the entrance to the dorms.

'What would you do?' Rosie muttered to herself. 'If you were me Miss Ravenclaw? Because I'm feeling a bit bloody weird at the moment. A teacher's found a weapon in the school. I have so many questions still but we're breaking up for Christmas soon and I don't know what to tell my parents when I see them. Should I tell them anything? My dad'll be really worried.' Rosie sighed. She got up and sat by the window where she'd often ponder about stuff, the window with the ripped curtains. A first year boy had been swinging on them at the start of term and almost broke his leg in doing so. Rosie stared out at the moonlit night. Her common room was one if the few aspects of being a Ravenclaw that she was genuinely proud of; the magnificent views that the tower provided were better than anywhere in the school. You could see over pretty much all the school grounds, everything from the greenhouses to the Quidditch pitch. When she first came to Hogwarts two years ago, Rosie was initially pleased to be sorted into Ravenclaw. Her father was a Ravenclaw and his mother before him and so on and therefore she felt proud to be sorted into a house she'd heard so much about. Her first two years at Hogwarts were a very shaky. She hadn't felt like she'd fitted into the Ravenclaw clique and soon became a bit of an outcast. One Easter break she'd begged her parents to move her to another school as she was having such a hard time making any friends. All she'd do was spend her days avoiding the Slytherin clan and defending herself against bullies. As time went on and she became more adapted to the magical world as apposed to the Muggle one she'd left behind she struck up a friendship with Sophie. Sophie had been a bit of an outcast too, constantly trying to hang around with her older sisters friends she never had any of her own age. Due to both these girls having trouble making friends they were put together in the same dorm with Luna and Cho, who were having difficulty with the girls they'd originally shared a room with. The four girls immediately got on and were now tighter than ever. Rosie knew that at least she could tell her parents that she'd got closer with her mates this year, even if it was all because of a psycho D.A.D.A teacher who was after immortality and murder.

It was 2am and Rosie had only just come to realise how long she'd spent daydreaming by the window. She told herself she needed to get up and go to her dorm but she felt her eyes getting heavier and heavier and she didn't have the strength to move. Before she knew it she'd drifted off to sleep on the sofa.


	14. Chapter 14

Year 3~ Chapter 14

Rosie awoke to the sound of footsteps and giggling. She opened her eyes and could see her fellow students sniggering as they walked past her, still in her pyjamas at 8am curled up on the window seat. Immediately Rosie jumped up and ran to her dorm, a group of sixth year girls laughed as Rosie tripped over the stairs in her efforts to hide herself as soon as possible. When she reached her dorm she found Cho and Sophie standing around in their school robes wondering where their friend had got to.

'Jeez there you are!' Sophie exclaimed as Rosie came flying into the bedroom.

'What's the time!' she demanded, gathering her uniform up.

'It's almost 8, we've been waiting for you to go down to breakfast' Cho told her.

'Bloody hell. You go on without me, I'm gonna miss it and anyway I'm not feeling that hungry.' Rosie ran into the bathroom 'Can't believe I fell asleep in the common room.' she muttered to herself.

'Are you sure?' Cho asked her patiently.

'Fine. It's not like we've been waiting for you but whatever, come on Cho.' Sophie said, a bit miffed with her friend but Rosie knew it was just the hunger talking.

When Rosie finally made it down to the bottom of Ravenclaw Tower she almost went to join her friends in the Great Hall but instead, feeling that she might be ridiculed by the other Ravenclaws this morning, chose to head in the direction on Professor Flitwick's office.

All of last night Rosie was thinking about what happened with Mendacallius. She needed answers, otherwise the whole of this Friday would be taken up with her worrying over stuff when she should be focusing on her lessons. The classes just before Christmas were always the most enjoyable, teachers would allow you to practise the fun elements of their classes as an end of term treat. Well most teachers did anyway. Rosie didn't want to miss out on all of that by unnecessarily fretting.

Professor Flitwicks office was on the seventh floor of the Hogwarts Castle. She'd never been there before but her house prefect had shown all the first years where it roughly was on their first day. The door to his office read 'Filis Flitwick, Charms Master' on the outside in blue calligraphy. She knocked on the door a couple of times before she heard the familiar high-pitched voice of the little Professor telling her to come in. Flitwick's room was full of books. They were untidily scattered around the office gathering dust. On the wall were multiple paintings of previous charms masters and Rosie noted the painting on the wall of Flitwick as a young man with a large trophy in his hands. Underneath the painting were the words 'Duelling Champion 1970'. Flitwick was standing on a pile of books in the corner of the room, he seemed to be organising some papers into an old bookcase.

'Miss Chadwick! Just the person I wanted to speak to,' Flitwick chirped.

'Hello, oh, um… really?' Rosie sounded surprised.

'Yes indeed. Dumbledore told me about your findings last night. Very astute. Mind you I'd always thought that Mendacallius was a bit of a bad egg, but don't tell Dumbledore I said that. He told me he'd rewarded yourself and Miss Cho Chang with 50 house points, excellent my dear!' Flitwick finished his organising and took a seat at his desk. 'Do take a seat' he said kindly.

Rosie sat down in the comfortably large blue armchair, noting the little built in stand to keep you wand on it.

'Now what was it you wanted to ask me?' Flitwick queried.

'Um… well I just wanted to know if uh, if you know what happened with Professor Mendaallius? Did Professor Snape stop him?' said Rosie.

'Oh yes yes of course, well it wasn't Professor Snape actually, it was Professor Sprout. He'd been trying to escape through the greenhouses, gave her quite a shock actually. But all is well, he was arrested by the Ministry last night.'

 _Thank Merlin_ Rosie thought to herself. 'Phew' she sighed.

'Yes if it wasn't for you and your friends none of us would have known so well done,' he congratulated again. 'Was there anything else that was bothering you?'

'Um…' Rosie pondered for a moment.

'You getting on with those dormitory friends?' Flitwick asked.

'Oh yes! Yes they're great actually thank you. We've been getting on really well. Uh I was going to ask actually, do you know why Mendacallius was after that dagger?' Rosie still felt the need to find out more.

Flitwick folded his hands on the desk, 'Fortunately not, no I'm afraid. But he won't be bothering us anymore anyway. I should imagine the Ministry will lock him away for a long time.'

'Right… but say one wanted to find out a bit more, where would you keep track of what was going on?' She didn't mean to but Rosie sounded a little nosey. Flitwick didn't seem to mind though.

'I'd imagine the newspaper would be a good place to start my dear' he chuckled.

Rosie smiled, she should have come to Flitwick sooner, she knew she would have felt better if only she'd spoken to him. Rosie got up and thanked the kindly Charms teacher, 'I think that's all Professor, I better get to my lesson now, thanks for talking though.'

'Anytime' he smiled and Rosie left his office, feeling like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.


	15. Chapter 15

Year 3 ~ Chapter 15

'Come on please, hurry now' Hagrid, the gamekeeper, was escorting the students onto the Hogwarts Express from Hogsmeade in the freezing December snow. Rosie, Cho and Luna were going back to their parents houses for the Christmas break. Sophie was staying at Hogwarts with her sister while her parents were away on important ministry matters.

'Promise you'll write okay?' Sophie said as Cho and Rosie embraced her.

'I promise' Cho smiled sweetly before gathering her bird cage and suitcase.

'I'll do my best' Rosie winked. She didn't have a pet owl to send any letters, much to her own annoyance but her parents hadn't let her take any pets to Hogwarts. They didn't trust her with keeping one alive she believed. Her dad once had a pet toad when he attended the school but he'd lost it in his first term.

'The trains leaving now folks!' Hagrid hurried everyone along. Rosie blinked as snowflakes kept getting in her eyelashes, she was sure going to miss this festive weather when she arrived back in Wiltshire. There wouldn't be any snow down there at Christmas, more like grey rainy skies. She gathered her belongings and gave Sophie one last wave goodbye. As the train pulled away from the station Rosie and Cho were struggling to find a free compartment to chat in. Luna had already disappeared down the train, Rosie suspected she was off to sell The Quibbler, her father's tabloid magazine. The girls finally found a compartment with two spaces in, only it was occupied by a group of Gryffindors. _Nevermind,_ Rosie thought, _we vaguely know Seamus and Dean so we won't look like complete strangers_.

'It'll have to do' Rosie said and they both sat rather shyly in the corner.

'Alright Rosie?' said Dean Thomas. 'We heard you got Mendacallius fired!'

'Awesome!' Seamus joked and the other Gryffindor's looked on eagerly in anticipation of a good story.

'Oh um, yes. Cho and I found him searching for a weapon in the Room of Requirement and I told Dumbledore. Apparently Professor Sprout caught him trying to escape out the Herbology classroom'.

'Always thought he was weird'" Dean quipped.

'How did you get into the Room of Requirement!' A curly haired girl asked. Rosie tried to wrack her brains to remember her name. _Dorothy. Of course, Dorothy from Charms class._

'Long story," Rosie began, '…the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw kinda pointed us in the right direction." She smiled at Cho.

'That sounds crazy, you've got to tell us everything Rosie.' Seamus added and Rosie continued to entertain her new Gryffindor friends with the story for the rest of the train journey back to London.

* * *

Over the course of the Christmas Holidays Rosie and her family spent the break like any usual Muggle/Wizard family — chaotically. Trying to manage muggle traditions with wizarding ones were tricky. For a start her mother wanted to uphold the family tradition of going to church on Christmas day. Whereas her father wanted to bring his wizard family over and they all found the idea of sitting in a muggle church all morning horrendous. There was usually some kind of argument over whether to use magic for things like carving the Christmas turkey, as a particular muggle tradition, or to simply use magic. Decorating the Christmas tree was also fun, her father usually getting bored half way through and then retiring to the sofa to use levitating spells to place stuff on the tree. This was usually met with annoyance by Rosie's mother, who wanted them all as a family to decorate it together, without magic. Although Rosie was a witch herself, she always felt the need to sustain from magic as much as possible while around her mother, she never wanted her to feel left out.

One morning, a week after Christmas day, Rosie was chatting to her father in his study. Her father worked as an Arithmancer and his study was full of mathematical number charts and papers. On his desk was a pile nearly as high as the ceiling of arithmacy documents. Rosie guessed her father had used some kind of magic to keep it from toppling over.

'So you haven't really said that much about school pumpkin, was everything alright there? Not being bullied or anything are you?' Her dad said, polishing the monocle he'd often used when calculating maths.

'God no, no dad I'm fine. Just… yeah this term was weird.' Rosie said, fidgeting with an old radio.

'Go on— in what way weird?'

'Just…' Rosie wasn't going to mention the whole Mendacallius thing, he was locked away and there wasn't any need to unnecessarily worry her parents. But Rosie was a sucker for people questioning her and she felt like she couldn't keep herself from mentioning it anymore.  
'Just that, we had a teacher who turned out to be looking for a creepy dagger in the school. Professor Mendacallius, he was our Defence Against The Dark Arts professor. I say that but he was barely present in the lessons, he'd just ponder about stuff by his desk and not say a lot. Probably trying to work out where the dagger was now I come to think of it. But yeah, it's fine dad it was just weird.'

'Mendacallius? Where have I heard that name before?' Her dad asked as he crossed his arms from his leather chair.

'I dunno. You probably haven't, just one of those names you know. Oh and Cho and I found the Room of Requirement. Pretty cool.'

'You're kidding me? You found it! How astonishing, it's almost impossible to find. That's why they used to say the Ministry of Magic used to hide stuff in there, or so they say. Hang on Rosie, was this professor looking for something _in_ the Room of Requirement?' her dad asked guardedly.

'Yeah'

'In the Room of Requirement, actually in it? The Room of Hidden Things?'

'Yes, I just said yeah. We followed him in there and he found it.' Rosie said.

'It?' Her father was sitting on the edge of his seat.

'The Dagger of Mortahepta? It's an ancient—'

'I know what it is… Oh god' he dad said, standing up and pacing the room.

'Dad you're kind of scaring me now, I don't get it, why does it matter to you?' Her dad looked at Rosie, adjusted his tie and sat back down.

'Yes no… let me explain. If…. If that Dagger has been found then that's very bad. Very bad. So it was at the school… the whole time… oh Merlin.' Her dad put his head in his hands.

'Dad? Answer me what's going on?' Rosie said abruptly.

'Rosie listen. Forget about the Dagger okay, just forget it ever existed. I don't want you having anything to do with this. Don't go trying to find out anything more will you, just forget about it.' Her dad got up and swiftly left the study, his monocle rolling across the desk as he tossed it aside. Rosie was completely baffled. All she'd done was to mention that Mendacallius had found this Dagger, she hadn't even had the chance to explain anything else yet her dad was behaving so odd and erratically. Since it was Christmas and Rosie had managed to eliminate her anxiety about school for now she didn't bother too much about her father's reaction.  
Of course, in time, she'd regret this.


	16. Chapter 16

Year 3 ~ Chapter 16

Once Rosie returned to Hogwarts she quickly settled back into the day to day rhythm of school and almost entirely forgot about the dodgy goings on of her old D.A.D.A Professor. She hadn't even bothered to read up about where Mendacallius was in prison, she'd presumed it was Azkaban. She'd taken her dads strong advice and had tried to forget about the Dagger completely. Weeks past and Rosie was starting to feel like her old self again, before she was constantly worried about her teacher. She hadn't liked all that, the spying and the suspicion, so she'd decided that from now on if she ever had a problem she was to go straight to nice Professor Flitwick and not worry herself silly for months on end like before Christmas.

One bleak day at the end of January Rosie found herself in a rather amusing Herbology class. Students were being taught the _Incendio Tria_ spell so that they knew how to free themselves from plants such as Devil's Snare. Of course, with Seamus Finnigan in her class Rosie knew that learning about anything involving flames would be a hilarious disaster with that boy. Ten minutes into the lesson and Seamus had already managed to blow up an entire plant. Rosie and Dean were in hysterics as Seamus tried and tried to get lovely, safe, bluebell flames to come from the end of his wand but was getting nothing but little explosions. Rosie had managed to do the spell correctly after around three tries but she felt like she'd been a bit rubbish too when a Gryffindor girl called Hermione was going around showing others how to do it, she was _that_ good.

"Fillius is staring at you." Dean nudged Rosie.

"What?"

"Look, Templeton's staring at you" Dean nodded his head towards the shy Ravenclaw boy at the end of their row. Fillius immediately turned away in embarrassment, pretending to be in the middle of a spell.

Rosie blushed. "Oh yeah… how odd."

"Maybe he likes you?" Dean winked as he scribbled some facts about Devil's Snare into his notebook.

"Maybe he needs glasses?" Rosie joked back, brushing off the comment. Dean just smiled at her as if to say _don't be silly_ , but he didn't say it out loud. A sudden bang came from where Seamus stood.

"Mr Finnigan for goodness sake!" Professor Sprout exclaimed. She waddled over to him looking exasperated before taking her wand out and doing the spell for him. The vines of the Devil's Snare suddenly recoiled and stopped constricting and tightening around the small piece of parchment that was hidden inside. Seamus took the parchment which read 'One House Point' before Professor Sprout snatched it away from him.  
"Not for you Finnigan, better luck next time. Alright, class over everyone!" Sprout addressed the room, "Well done on all those that got house points. I want you all to revise Bluebell Flames before next lesson please, chapter eighteen of your books." There was an audible sigh among the children.

During their break time Rosie, Sophie and Cho were hanging around the corridor by the Great Hall. Understandably it was the busiest in the school and it was full of groups of kids from older years who were way more popular and confident than Rosie and her friends. They didn't usually hang around this corridor as it was often seen as territory for only the coolest kids but there wasn't any where else to hang out since it was freezing cold outside.

"Is he talking about us? Is that boy talking about us, he looks like he is, gosh maybe he's talking about us?" Sophie was being paranoid, she hated this corridor and wanted to persuade Rosie to hang out somewhere else.

"Sophie shut up, no one's talking about us. Trust me we're invisible. We're always invisible." Rosie assured her.

"Can we please go to the girls bathroom honestly it's fine to hang out there and it's quiet."

"Really? Lets go hang with Moaning Myrtle shall we?" Rosie gave a sarcastic grin.

"We can go to another bathroom not just the one on this floor…" Sophie pleaded.

"Actually I'd rather stay here personally" Cho added, "there's only ten minutes of break left we might as well stay."

"Thank you Cho" Rosie smiled. Since she'd never been in the 'popular' group in school Rosie was rather keen to just try and look as if she was vaguely in a better social clique, even if it did make her look like a bit of a wannabe. She felt like she'd be so much more confident if she hung around with confident, self assured people too and who knew maybe her grades would be better if she believed in herself a bit more. Sophie couldn't understand this though, she couldn't think of anything worse than hanging around with the types of people who were 'popular' at Hogwarts. The types to just mess around all day, the class clown, she thought. As the girls stood in the corridor chatting about what subjects they had for the rest of the day the usual Slytherin group came swaggering along the corridor like they owned the place.

"Oh look who it isn't." Rosie tutted as she nudged Cho.

"Please don't get involved Rosie" Cho gritted her teeth. Rosie smirked and turned to continue talking to Sophie. Out of nowhere Goyle came up behind Rosie and pushed her towards the wall.

"Oi, loony" he jeered, sniggering back at his mates.

"Hello to you too loser." Rosie retorted, adjusting her robe. "Come on apologise have you, for pouring pumpkin juice all over me? Was it worth the thirty house points?"

Goyle snarled at Rosie, even at only thirteen years old he towered above her. "Was it your bright idea to get Mendacallius fired?"

Rosie sighed, _brilliant,_ she thought, _this again._ "I didn't get him fired actually, he brought that on himself. Why is it any of your business anyway?"

"I liked him, and you're just a dumb Ravenclaw freak so how dare you!" Goyle's fingers were edging closer to his wand, he was itching for an excuse to use a curse on Rosie. Despite the fact that he'd already lost Slytherin house points for trying it before.

"He was a rubbish teacher though." Draco added from behind Goyle. "Just drop it Goyle stop loosing us house points, you're being annoying."

"Cheers Draco?" Rosie was surprised at his interruption.

"Yeah whatever freak." He taunted, sniggering with his friends as they walked away.

"What a lovely bunch of people." Sophie remarked as the girls decided to head off to lesson, "They're a bit like wasps?"

"Wasps?" Cho said.

"Useless pests, annoying everyone, being a general nuisance. Just like wasps." The girls all laughed and joked about those Slytherin boys as they headed off to Transfiguration. In all honesty though, Rosie was beginning to get really fed up with her feud with Goyle.


	17. Chapter 17

Year 3 ~ Chapter 17

Rosie had been studying studiously in every subject since she'd been back, keen to make up for the lack of learning she'd done last term. Time seemed to fly by; days turned into weeks and it was soon February, which when you're in school means only one thing — Valentine's Day. That awful day once a year where those who are single are made to feel terrible about their lack of romantic partner. Most kids in Rosie's year were single, and indeed practically everyone in the lower years were too but there were lots of older kids coupled up that sickened Rosie. It wasn't that she didn't like romance, far from it she always used to enjoy a good 'rom-com' with her mother, but there was something a bit gross she thought, about the snogging that went on in the corridors. The older couples would always be dotted around the school smooching openly between classes. Often the corridors were crowded and you might have to be forced to squish up next to a pair of lovestruck teens while you waited for class. Rosie had never had a boyfriend and wasn't too interested in getting one at the moment, she was only thirteen and it didn't seem like such a big deal. The same could not be said for Sophie.

'Red or Pink paper?' the excitable Ravenclaw asked, choosing an envelope for her Valentines love letter. The girls were in their common room one evening, Cho and Rosie were revising Potions while Sophie was asking Luna for some help writing a letter to a Hufflepuff boy she fancied.

'Uh… red.' Rosie replied as she looked up from her copy of _Magical Drafts and Potions._

'I'll do pink.' Sophie decided as she licked the envelope and shoved her carefully handwritten note inside.

'Who did you say that was for again Sophie?' Cho asked, getting distracted from her studying.

'I didn't,' Sophie smirked, glueing little flowers to the front of the envelope. 'You'll have to guess.'

'Well that's kinda impossible there's loads of Hufflepuff boys how are we going to narrow that down?' Rosie said.

'Alright well…. he's in my Astronomy. He hangs around with Dev Kapoor…' Sophie winked.

'I… I have literally no idea who that is.' Rosie shook her head.

'He's got brown hair.' Rosie looked blank.

'He's into Quidditch….'

'Oh!' Cho interrupted, 'Aldebaran?' Sophie smirked and continued glueing flowers.

'Who?' Rosie turned to Cho with a puzzled look.

'Theodore Aldebaran, he's the Hufflepuff Seeker?' Cho nodded.

'Oh…. oh yeah. Him?' Rosie turned back to Sophie, closing her book. Theodore was in the fifth year, Rosie had barely seen him off the Quidditch pitch except one time where he bumped into her in the corridor without saying sorry. She didn't really think much of him, and he wasn't great at Quidditch either.

'He's… alright.' She forced a smile to Sophie, who had finished her card and was allowing Luna to inspect it.

'He's dreamy.' Sophie replied, 'He always looks so good in his Quidditch robes.'

 _Really?_ Rosie thought. 'Yeah… yeah sure. I'd have thought if you fancied a Hufflepuff Quidditch player it would be Cedric Diggory. He's got a lot of fans if you know what I mean.'

'Ew nah.' Sophie frowned. Luna handed her back the red envelope, smiling sweetly she gave Sophie a vigorous nod.

'I'm sure he'll love it.' Luna assured.

* * *

The following day, the day before Valentines, Rosie had her first D.A.D.A lesson with their new Professor. It had been a nightmare for the teachers who had to cover each D.A.D.A lesson since Mendacallius had been rightly fired. They'd got several useless cover teachers in when the other professors were too busy to teach the lesson; the rest of the time poor Professor Snape had been covering it in his spare periods— which he'd set aside to prepare for students upcoming O. and N.E.W.T.s. However, today Rosie's class were going to meet Professor Clutterwell. On entering the classroom the students could see their new professor sat at the desk, she looked anxious, she was trying to shakily pick up the large register in one hand and a book on Dark Arts in the other. The students giggled and whispered as they sat in their seats. The doddery woman dropped her wand on the floor to the amusement of two Ravenclaw boys in the front row who attempted to stifle their laughter as they handed it back. Professor Clutterwell could have been about 100 years old, Rosie thought. She dressed like she was as well. She had a large tatty bonnet on her head which made her look quite Victorian and wore what looked like a hideous, homemade orange dress and felt corset. She certainly looked a lot less mysterious than her predecessor. Clutterwell fumbled about with her books for a moment longer until she cleared her throat and began to read out the register.

'Charmton? Snithe? Templeton?' she read out with a rather wavering voice and each of the students responded.

'Grave? Mizar? Crabbe?' Vincent Crabbe remained quiet. He was deliberately testing the waters with this new teacher.

'Crabbe?' she quivered again.

'There's no one called Crabbe in this class' the Slytherin boy joked. 'There is a Stu though…'

'Stu?' The old woman questioned. 'What's his last name?'

'Pid'

'Stu Pid? Is he here then? Stu-pid anyone?' The whole class erupted into laughter. Despite it coming from a Slytherin bully Rosie had to agree she did find that rather funny. The poor woman looked horrified. She frantically scribbled _'present'_ next to Crabbe's name in the register.

'There's a Eura Loser too!' teased Evangeline Snithe, a Slytherin student.

'What about Eura Sogullible!' a Ravenclaw kid joked. Professor Clutterwell looked really flustered, she clearly had no idea how to control a class of 13 and 14 year olds. She slammed shut her register, with some effort, before scurrying back over to the desk.

'Well…t-today we're going to be learning about um…' she frantically looked at her Darks Arts book, peering close to the pages as if she could barely see, 'um… Hinky-poonks'. There was another snigger among the students.

'Bloody hell…' Rosie exhaled as she turned to Sophie. 'This woman is about as competent as a flipping chocolate frog.' Stifled laughter came from behind the two girls. Rosie whipped round to see Malfoy trying hard to keep a straight face. He frowned at her. Goyle grimaced at Rosie, he tried to look menacing but Rosie thought he just looked rather hilarious so she laughed at him.

'What's the matter Goyle?' Rosie pointed to Clutterworth, 'Is she your mum or something?'

Draco let out a laugh before he immediately remembered who he was and continued to glare threateningly at the annoying Ravenclaws. Rosie sniggered before erupting into giggles with Sophie and the two of them suddenly attracted the attention of Professor Clutterworth.

'Girls!' her voice was more of a shrill this time, she came waddling over to their desk. 'There's to be no talking! That'll be 10 house points!'

'That's not fair! Look Jethro and Opal are talking too!' Sophie pleased, pointing to the pair of Slytherin's at the back of the class. They gave her a disappointed look.

'10 house points,' the elderly witch insisted as she went back to the desk to continue mispronouncing the names of magical creatures. Malfoy and Goyle both sat tittering behind the girls. Rosie shot round again to give them a disapproving look before opening up her book _The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts_ and flicked erratically through the pages. Her new teacher might be incompetent but that's clearly not going to stop her from being strict. Either way, Rosie thought optimistically, Professor Clutterworth was clearly not going to be anything like the headache that Mendacallius was.

* * *

The next morning, as the students filtered into the Great Hall for breakfast they were all greeted by the house ghosts who had gathered outside to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day. The Great Hall had been decorated with hundreds of little pink flowers hanging in heart shaped wreaths around the room. Heart shaped confetti was also strewn all over the tables and the ceiling had been enchanted into a strange mauve colour. Sophie linked arms with Rosie as they stood at the entrance, Rosie's face was a mixture of shock and dismay.

'It's so cute!' Sophie squeaked.

'Isn't it just…' said Rosie sarcastically as Sophie dragged her into the hall. As everyone sat down for breakfast people started passing notes and letters to each other, getting friends to nervously go up to their dates for them and so on. Eventually all the owls swooped in with extra letters and gifts for those lucky few who had admirers. Sophie and Cho sat eagerly staring at the Hufflepuff table.

'What's… going on?' Rosie asked, eating some alarmingly pink cereal the house-elves had laid out especially.

'Theo's going to open Sophie's letter!' Cho squeezed Sophie's arm giddily.

'Shh!' Sophie nudged her. 'I don't want him to know it's from me!'

'What's even the point of that, I mean I don't get it, if you want to date someone why sign a letter anonymous—'

'Shh!' both Cho and Sophie hushed Rosie quiet.

'Blimey.' She said, continuing with her off-puttingly coloured breakfast. Rosie peered over to the Hufflepuff table, where it looked like a lot of students were receiving sweet Valentine's cards. Cedric Diggory sat with all his many friends reading out a good pile of pink letters. She turned her attention to Mr Aldebaran _,_ who was currently waving around Sophie's red envelope to his mates as if it was a trophy. The Hufflepuff tore open the letter, his friends gathered over his shoulder to read out the embarrassing declaration of love.

'Ooh! _Theodore, Theodore, I love you, with your hair so brown and your eyes so blue. Theodore, Theodore, love me do, what would I give just to be with you?_ That's hilarious!' his friend read, loud enough for Sophie to hear, on the other side of the hall.

Sophie went red. She quickly stopped staring at him and tried to avoid being seen by any of the Hufflepuffs.

Cho bit her bottom lip, 'Don't worry I'm sure he still thinks it's cute.' she tried to reassure her cringing friend. Theodore was in fits of laughter, his friends were passing around Sophie's letter each taking it in turns to sing the poem aloud dramatically.

'That's pretty cute though,' one of Theodore's female friends said as she inspected the letter. 'They've even stuck little flowers on the envelope, that's dedication Theo.' But the Hufflepuff boy shook his head.

'That's so funny you mean! It's hilarious.' He said, discarding the letter as he tossed it aside. Theodore was clearly coming across as a bit of a prat.

'Oh well…' Cho held Sophie's hand. 'At least now you know he's a bit… immature?' Sophie nodded her head slowly, more upset with the embarrassment than anything else. Cho looked up at Rosie for assistance.

She just replied with a displeasing raise of her eyebrows.

'Boys.'


	18. Chapter 18

Year 3 ~ Chapter 18

Heading down to Potions with Luna and Cho, Rosie could have sworn the snogging situation among the older couples had gotten even worse. _Just because it's Valentines Day,_ Rosie thought, _do you really have to do that when we've all just finished breakfast?_ She didn't know if she was just being prudish or whether anyone else felt the same way but she would certainly be glad once Valentines was over. Herself and Cho had agreed that it would be nice to surprise Sophie later by taking her to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop in Hogsmeade when they'd finished lessons. Apparently half the population of the school were planning to descend there anyway after class and Rosie thought Sophie wouldn't want to miss out.

As the girls walked down to the Dungeon corridor they noticed a commotion outside the Potions classroom. Mr Filch had a set of keys in his hands and he was desperately trying to jam one after another into the door to the room. Snape loomed over the man before he grabbed him and took him aside. It looked as if Filch had lost the key to the classroom that he'd presumably locked overnight. Rosie and her classmates watched as Filch scurried off in the direction of the store cupboard.

'Rosie there you are!' a voice said from behind. She turned around to see Dean Thomas next to her, holding a small letter. 'I was looking everywhere. Was trying to find you before lesson started!' he laughed.

'Sorry? Why were you trying to find me?' Rosie asked, a little confused to say the least.

'A… _friend…_ asked me to give you this' he winked, and put the letter in Rosie's hands.

'Friend?' she smiled.

'Yup. Shall I just say… a Herbology friend.' He nudged her and turned back to join Seamus and Dorothy.

 _Herbology?_ She mouthed to herself as she stared down at the unexpected gift.

'What's that Rosie? What does it say?' Luna asked sweetly. Rosie opened up the piece of parchment. Inside was a small handwritten note, it simply read:

 _Rosie,_

 _I think you're really cool. Sorry I wasn't brave enough to give you this in person — I suck at this stuff. You're awesome._

 _From Fillius x_

'Oooo! That's so cute!' Cho yelped as she read the note for herself. Rosie didn't know how to react. Sure, it was nice to have a compliment from someone but she didn't know Fillius. They were in the same class but she couldn't even remember if they'd ever even spoken or not. Rosie stuffed the note into her robe pocket, nervously she looked round, she couldn't remember whether Fillius was in her Potions class. She couldn't see him anywhere, thankfully.

'What do you think Rosie? Cute hey!' Cho gave her a friendly poke.

Rosie nodded, still lost for words. In all honesty she was really hoping not to receive anything today, she hadn't expected to anyway but she would have been thankful if she hadn't. She hated being the centre of attention all of a sudden, the girl who someone's got a crush on. She felt awkward. Maybe it was just because she had never done the whole dating thing before but she suddenly felt really shy. When Dean had come up to her for a moment she thought that it was him who was going to give her a Valentines Card, she kind of wished it had been, she considered him a mate now and it would have been slightly less awkward.

Luna took Rosie's arm. 'You alright?' she could see something was troubling her friend.

'You feel awkward about getting a letter don't you? It's alright, it's probably normal to. He's probably just as shy as you are. It'll be fine.' Luna told her comfortingly. Rosie smiled at her astute friend and since Filch was back with the key to the classroom they both headed in, arm in arm.

During Potions, Professor Snape taught the students how to brew a successful vile of Shrinking Solution. The class were given the recipe from Zygmunt Budge's _Book of Potions._

'Add well-shaken wormwood.' Cho read to Rosie as they watched over the bubbling cauldron, the mixture was slowly turning an acidic green colour. The pupils were allowed to work in pairs to create the potion, however Luna had decided she'd much rather work alone, much to Snape's irritation. He loomed over her ready to jump down her throat if she made any mistakes but the quirky blonde was doing everything by the book. Luna was adding a small splash of a white liquid.

'What's that Luna?' Rosie said anxiously, she didn't think her solution was coming along very well, she was sure she'd made a mistake.

'Cowbane' Luna replied, mixing her cauldron pot.

'Cowbane? That's step number eleven. We're only on seven. Cho what have we done wrong?' Rosie fretted as she stirred the liquid around vigorously. Snape stood over Rosie inspecting their potion. He tutted before continuing to hover over the other students, breathing down their necks.

'Did that mean we're doing it wrong?' Rosie whispered to Cho.

'If it was wrong wouldn't he have shouted at us?' Cho said as she added a disgusting brown liquid into the cauldron. Rosie continued to stir the pot vigorously, she was anxious that her classmates seemed to be ahead of her and Cho. She was trying to whiz through as many steps as possible to catch up. The cauldron started to spew and spit, sending boiling liquid over the table and their books.

'Cautiously! The instructions say cautiously, can you not read Chadwick?' Professor Snape came sweeping in to rescue the mixture.

'If brewed incorrectly Shrinking Solution can be… lethal. I could make you test it you know… and we wouldn't…want…that.' The Potions master said coldly as he walked away again towards a table of Slytherin students who he was giving special attention to.

Eventually Cho and Rosie managed to finish brewing the Shrinking Solution, even if they were the last in the class to do so. The mixture had turned bright green and to test it they had to administer it to a mouse. The creature magically shrunk down to the size of a tiny pebble, it had turned back into a baby. Rosie cooed over the little creature before Snape grabbed it and put it away with all the others.

'Where are they taking them?' Rosie asked innocently. Draco Malfoy leaned over from his table and whispered 'to be fed to our giant pet snake' to Rosie. She turned around with a shocked expression and caught Malfoy and Nott sniggering to each other. _Why do they have to be so irritating_ she thought.

'Is Snape really going to kill them?' She asked Luna.

The Ravenclaw smiled back, 'I don't think they've got a pet snake,' she said twiddling her blonde plaits. Rosie hoped that the mice would be put somewhere safe, ever since taking Care of Magical Creature's she found herself with a new empathy for animals, magical or otherwise.

* * *

Later that day, as promised, Rosie and Cho took Sophie to Hogsmeade to visit Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. The weather was beginning to slowly get warmer and all the snow around the town and school had turned into gross brown slush. Several pupils had slipped over on the ice in the main courtyard and a few had had to visit the Hospital wing after spraining their wrists.

Cho told Sophie to close her eyes as they neared the tea shop as so to keep it a surprise. 'I can't do that,' Sophie began, 'I'll slip on all the ice and that won't be funny.'

'It would be quite funny.' Rosie said as she guided the suspicious Sophie to the door of the shop. Puddifoot's Tea Shop had been specially decorated for Valentines. It was usually tacky anyway but with the extra addition of frilly bows and ribbons around the entrance Rosie knew it was going to be like walking into a fuchsia themed nightmare. As Rosie pushed Sophie through the gaudy pink door a little tinkle of bells announced their entrance.

'Madam Puddifoot's!' Sophie squeaked as she flung her arms around Cho and Rosie. 'I love this place thank you guys!' Rosie smiled, even though she found this place to be a bit horrendous, at least her best friend was happy. The three of them sat down at a rather wobbly round table adorned with a floral table cloth and floral ribbons. Rosie noted immediately the numerous couples around the tea shop, feeding each other cupcakes, pouring each other tea; Rosie suddenly got an awful vision of her and Fillius sat together gazing into each others eyes and she had to forcibly snap herself out of it. She certainly did not want to be like one of those couples, she didn't really want to be a couple at all. Madam Puddifoot had trouble squeezing between the tables as she made her way over to the three girls.

'What can I get you?' she asked, a bit red and flustered. There was a lot of people in her shop today and she was struggling to cope with the influx of students. There were only a few people from outside Hogwarts in the shop. An elderly couple sat together in one corner and a younger wizard sat in the other, he looked like he was waiting for his date.

'Three tea's please, oh and some cakes too!' Cho asked, holding out two galleons. Puddifoot hurried away, her blue pinafore wafting over cake stands as she walked back to the kitchen.

'Sophie did you hear— Rosie got a Valentines card!' Cho said in a sing-song voice.

Sophie's eyes widened and she perched on the end of her seat. 'Seriously!' she said gleefully.

'Yeah alright it wasn't really a card though, just a spare bit of parchment with the words "I think you're cool" written on it.' Rosie said, trying to down play the situation. 'It was from that kid in Divination and Herbology and stuff, Fillius Templeton.'

Sophie clapped her hands, 'This is so good, we've got to set you up with him!'

Rosie gritted her teeth, 'I'm alright thanks.'

Sophie insisted, 'No honestly you'd be so good together. What did you say to him when he gave it to you!'

'It wasn't him, Dean Thomas gave it to me. I haven't said anything to Fillius, I don't think I've _ever_ said anything to Fillius _._ ' Madam Puddifoot came back with the cakes and tea's on a bright pink tray. The cakes were all dyed pink and purple with white heart shaped icing on top. They did look rather delicious. Rosie immediately stuffed one in her mouth.

'Anyway— Cho how's the Quidditch practise going?' Rosie said with mouthful of purple cake, she was trying to change the topic of conversation as quickly as possible.

'It's alright. If we win next week then we'll be against Slytherin in May. They're very good I'm afraid.'

'So are you though.' Sophie assured.

'The Slytherin's aren't good. They just cheat. Most of them bribed their way on to that team anyway, or they just get in because "Daddy says so"' Rosie scoffed, clearly referring to Malfoy.

'Marcus Flint's got a good team, they have been doing a lot of practise Rosie.' Cho told her.

'They've been doing a lot of cheating more like.' Rosie mumbled to herself as she ate another purple cupcake.

Despite the fact that Rosie wasn't the biggest fan of Valentines Day she had to admit to herself that the day hadn't been totally awful. She'd discovered that a boy fancied her, she'd made a successful brew of Shrinking Solution and she'd cheered her friend up by taking her to her favourite tea shop. As the girls trudged back to Hogwarts Rosie and Sophie listened intently to Cho's Quidditch tactics. Ravenclaw were to play Gryffindor in the next match, Gryffindor were good but both Rosie and Sophie knew they could definitely count on their friend to deliver Ravenclaw to the finals.

* * *

Finally a longer chapter I hear you cry! Been really focused on writing over the last week so I hope you like my dedication ;) Please review - I'd love to get your feedback!  
(Update- Sorry for all the typo's that keep cropping up - my computer seems to keep missing out words when I copy and paste it so I'll get that issue resolved. Anyone else get that?)


	19. Chapter 19

Year 3 ~ Chapter 19

The most important week of the year had soon crept up on Rosie. It was already the second week of May and her end of year exams were just around the corner, they fell on the same week as the Quidditch Finals. The exams didn't usually overlap with Quidditch but Madam Hooch had decided to push the date of the final back after a bout of particularly stormy weather had settled over Hogwarts. Rosie had been so busy filling her time with studying she'd barely noticed the months go flying by. Right the way through March she'd been studiously revising for her exams, and indeed she'd stayed in school over the Easter break to continue to work hard. Her parents had wanted her to come back home for the short break but she'd insisted she wanted to stay with her friends. Sophie's fourteenth birthday had been in early April and without Cho reminding Rosie every day for a week prior, she would have totally missed it. Indeed she'd completely forgotten Luna's in Februray, which Rosie kicked herself over. She had tried to make it up to Luna by buying her a small gift from Zonko's but she knew she'd rather let her friend down. Rosie was awful at remembering dates.

For the past two months Rosie had also been purposely trying to avoid seeing Fillius in her classes and in the corridors. Sophie thought it has been rather rude of Rosie since there was no harm in talking to the boy who likes you, but Rosie couldn't face it. She wasn't brave enough. She'd briefly bumped into him before a History lesson where she'd incoherently thanked him for the Valentines note and asked him how his day and been but she couldn't summon up the courage to say anything else. Other students in their classes had also got wind of their situation and had started to gossip about them; they'd started to make up rumours as to why Rosie hadn't agreed to date Fillius yet. Each lesson Fillius was present at he'd tried to give Rosie a smile or work with her in group tasks but she was coming across a bit too shy and uninterested in him. She was starting to feel a bit guilty however, she'd lie awake in bed thinking about what to say to him to break the ice. _Maybe we can talk more over the exam period?_ she asked herself, _I could tell him how worried I am at failing Potions? Oh no, that doesn't sound very good, that might sound like I'm really thick?_ Rosie kept herself awake for many a night pondering such conversations.

On the first sunny afternoon they'd had in months the Ravenclaw's gathered on the Quidditch pitch stands to watch their team practise for the upcoming final. Ravenclaw had completely smashed Gryffindor in their last match against them. Gryffindor were usually really good but their seeker Cindy Swern, a fourth year, had been poorly during their match and Cho had caught the snitch in practically no time at all. The whole match had been fairly uneventful really. Sophie had been busy with Divination revision and had decided against coming out to watch Cho practise but Rosie was in desperate need for some fresh air and a break from her books for once. Luna sat a few feet away from Rosie, she was draped in a shaggy purple poncho and her Ravenclaw scarf. Luna had immediately spotted Fillius staring at Rosie as soon as they'd sat down and Luna had quickly made the decision to make Rosie look as alone and available to talk to as she could. She too thought the idea of Rosie and Fillius as an item was adorable and she wanted Fillius to come over and talk to her. Luna's plan worked.

'Can I sit here?' Fillius smiled at Rosie.

Her heart starred racing, o _h Merlin,_ 'Yeah sure go ahead'. She tried to appear calmer than she was feeling inside. The Ravenclaw boy perched himself close to Rosie, he wrapped his scarf tighter around himself as he smiled at the blushing girl. She was so nervous she went completely blank, she suddenly forgot how to start a conversation. How silly she was being, she thought, he's just a boy. _But he suddenly looks really cute? He's never looked cute before has he?_ Rosie fiddled with her hair, all at once she was conscious of her own appearance.

'It's good that it's sunny today isn't it?' She panicked and blurted out. When in doubt talk about the weather, typically English.

He smiled, 'Chilly though isn't it.'

'Oh yeah it's still quite chilly.' They both went quiet again. Rosie felt the silence unbearably awkward but she didn't know what to talk to him about. What do you talk to boys about?

'Where abouts in England are you from Rosie?' Fillius questioned.

'Oh, Wiltshire. You know, Stonehenge and all that,' she grinned.

'Ah! The south, like me. What's… Stonehenge though?' He looked blankly at her.

'Sorry I forgot, uh it's a Muggle thing. Lots of… old… rocks. Anyway, where are you from?' she quickly diverted.

'Kent. Yeah… nice weather there.' Fillius was clearly just as shy as Rosie was when it came to keeping a conversation flowing.

'Really? Yeah that's good…' _What am I saying? This is awful. Talk about something fun for god's sake._ 'Ravenclaw are totally going to beat Slytherin, Cho's the best seeker,' she said boldly.

He chuckled. 'She is indeed. Malfoy's an annoyingly good seeker too though.'

'Malfoy's just annoying in general.' She laughed.

'He'll probably cheat of course.'

'Oh for sure. He'll probably cheat in his exams too. I've been sat behind him in Divination for the whole year and trust me there's no way he's going to pass that without cheating.' Rosie mocked.

'I'm not doing that well in Divination actually either, I'm so rubbish at all that Crystal Ball stuff.' Fillius admitted.

'Oh gosh, no, same! I'm thinking of dropping it as a subject next year and taking Ancient Runes or Arithmancy instead. I'm not sure Divination was a good choice but my friend Sophie wanted us to take a class together that we didn't have to study so hard for. But I'm actually finding it really confusing!' She laughed.

'I do Ancient Runes! You should be in my class that would be wicked!' The pair were now deep in conversation. Rosie was feeling a thousand times better for breaking the ice and she was beginning to feel like getting together with Fillius wasn't such a bad idea all along. She could definitely think of worse boys to date, he was nice, and she was beginning to get quite a soft spot for him. The pair spent the rest of the hour chatting in length about their exams and classmates, they were completely oblivious to the fact that the Ravenclaw Quidditch practise wasn't going as well as they'd all hoped it would. Things weren't looking promising for the final next Friday.

* * *

'I've lost my quill! Rosie, I've lost my quill!' It was Monday morning, the day of their first exams and Sophie was panicking about everything. Their Charms lesson was first thing and Rosie was actually quietly looking forward to it. She wasn't the best at Charms, she excelled much more in subjects like History of Magic and Transfiguration but it was definitely a subject Rosie enjoyed. Either way, whatever their test was going to be Flitwick was always very understanding, if a student was so nervous that they failed the task then Flitwick would usually give them a few extra points for trying and allowed them to scrape through.

'It's fine Sophie you'll probably only need your wand.' Rosie replied, watching on the end of her bed as her friend scrambled around the room for her books and belongings.

'McGonagall will give us anti-cheating quills for Transfiguration later anyway I heard.' Cho confirmed.

In Charms Professor Flitwick made each of the students freeze a small tray of water with a Freezing Charm for the first part of their exam. It had to be frozen solid enough so that the students could stand on it afterwards. Neville Longbottom had failed at this and he was left standing in several inches of icy water as a lot of his classmates laughed at him. Flitwick had said some kindly words to the boy before letting him give it another go. For the second half of the exam Rosie's class were made to then fill up a tray of water with the _Aguamenti_ charm. It had proven to be a very aquatic lesson overall.

Transfiguration had gone equally well in Rosie's mind. McGonagall had made them complete a written test on Animagi which she'd sailed through. Rosie didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing though, in a lot of her exams it seemed to be that the ones she thought she did well in she'd actually done badly, and vice versa. However, she was left feeling pretty confident with herself at the end of the day, at least she'd known all the answers, nothing had gone too badly.

The same could not be said for Divination. It had been Rosie's last test on Thursday afternoon and after a long week of exam after exam she'd felt completely drained. Her Potions had been the worst, the one she was most worried about. Snape had asked the students to make a Confusing Draught, a simple enough task, only Rosie had put too much Scurvy Grass in and almost ruined the entire thing. Snape allowed her to scrape through on an A grade- Acceptable. During Divination Professor Trelawney had asked all the class to wait outside as she called in each student one by one. She then asked them to make a prediction with the Crystal Ball using the methods they'd been taught in class. When it was Rosie's turn she'd sat and stared into the swirling mists for a good five minutes with absolutely no result. She didn't know if it was just her who was being rubbish or whether any of the other students had been having trouble. Rosie hated cheating, she loathed it, thought it to be so lazy and untruthful but in this case, this one time, she felt like she had to.

'I… can see something.' Rosie began. Trelawney's eye widened in anticipation, which with the large glasses she wore made them look almost alien in appearance. 'I can see, a man? A wizard, and … he looks a bit like my dad I guess?' She was really clutching at straws here, 'He's talking to… another wizard… perhaps, they've got dark hair. That's… all I can see.' Rosie lied.

Professor Trelawney seemed pretty happy with that prediction however and she sent Rosie on her way. After joking with Fillius that Malfoy would be the one to cheat in his exam she now felt awful about cheating in hers. She was made to feel doubly worse when the smug git Draco came out of his Divination test looking entirely chuffed with himself. _Great, I cheated and Malfoy hasn't, that's flipping great,_ she thought to herself.

As they were walking down the winding stairs of the tower Rosie told Sophie that she'd made up her prediction in Divination. Much to Rosie's relief Sophie had admitted to making it up too. She'd told Trelawney that she could see a giant spider being chased by a werewolf, which had apparently been one of Sophie's nightmares and she just couldn't think of anything else to say.

'I know we cheated on this but still, at least we won't need to cheat in the Quidditch Championship, we're going to beat those Slytherins fair and square tomorrow!' Sophie cheered hopefully.

Their final exam of the year was now over and both girls were feeling relieved and in need of some celebration, they skipped hand in hand down the corridor to the Great Hall for dinner, both looking forward to watching Cho hold that Golden Snitch above her head victoriously in tomorrows final.


End file.
